She glared at him. “You’d better explain and fast.”
He didn’t see her gun on her hip but knew it was where she could reach it in a hurry. “I was at Stone’s house a few nights ago.”
Vasquez slammed the car into gear, throwing gravel as she backed out. She turned the wheel with an angry twist and guided the sedan onto the road. “It was you who broke in? What the hell Brody?”
“I just need to find that link. The one clue that would prove he’s the one bringing Beast into the city.” He experienced some hesitance at admitting his misdeed. “He was supposed to be out of town. We got into a fight and I had to change quickly. The cops showed up and I ran for it. End of story.”
“You just left everything behind?”
“Yeah, I left it on the beach." He huffed with irritation. "Tony gave it back tonight."
“We found your tennis shoe in the garage, Brody. It’s what stopped the door from closing.” She sounded sickened by the idea.
“It’s a setup." Why couldn’t she understand this? Why wouldn’t she believe him? “Besides, I don’t wear shoes while in wolf form.”
She ignored his joke. "Why would they set you up?”
"I don’t know. I fucked the girl he's interested in? Or maybe because I got in his way?"
“Got in the way of what? Drug smuggling? Give it a rest.”
“That’s right, Vasquez, keep looking the other way.”
Her dark brows knit in fury. “I have enough to haul your ass in. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”
“You know I didn’t do this.”
She accelerated through a yellow light. A few moments later, they parked in front of Ira’s house. The coroner’s van had already taken the body away and the police cruisers were gone.
Brody reached for the door handle and Vasquez engaged the locks. “Ira had defensive wounds and we’ve taken what we could from beneath his nails. Let’s just hope none of it comes back to you. I’m cutting you a break, Brody. This is the last time I do you a favor.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, partner.”
“I’ll check your story.” She refused to look at him and stared at the dark houses instead.
He jerked the door open and threw a leg out. “Yeah, you do that.”
“Maybe you should leave town. Just get out while you still can.”
He slunk to his car and flopped inside. He cast one last look at the now dark house before he drove away.
Not for the first time, he wished he had a secret stock of wolfsbane. Right now, the wolf inside wanted to engage in a mindless hunt. It wouldn’t end well, either for him or his quarry.
Chapter Fourteen
For the second night in a row, Nicole pretended to be sick.
Sean was understanding, even compassionate. “We can go somewhere to get your mind off things. You need to get out, breathe some fresh air. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
“No.” He must still think he could slip into boyfriend mode. “I wouldn’t be good company right now.”
He acted cool, never even mentioned his disappointment though she detected it in his voice.
He suggested Molly stay home too. “Tony and Ramon can manage the bar tonight, Angel. I don’t want you to be alone. I’ll drop by later with some more wolfsbane.”
She tossed the phone aside and groaned. To be left alone was the only thing she wanted at the moment. She wouldn’t place this kind of burden on Molly’s shoulders. Her friend had been quiet and watchful ever since Sean dropped her off two nights ago. Thus far, Molly hadn’t mustered the courage to ask what was wrong.
The folder Tony had shoved into her hand lay on the coffee table. It looked foreign amongst all of the fashion magazines and bartending books. She pulled her feet onto the couch and stared at it.
“Are you ever going to read it?” Molly carried two mugs of steaming coffee into the living room. “Do you want me to look first, to soften the blow?”
Nicole sighed and readjusted her feet. “What if it’s all true? Sean said…”
“Sean’s just jerking your chain. Why would he bother to dig up information on Brody anyway? He’s just a DJ, not some drug smuggler or something.” She pulled her red curls up into a ponytail. "Besides, he's been Jonesing for you for some time now. He's just pissed you want Brody instead of him."
“Not now, Molly.” She allowed her head to fall back against the cushions.
Molly stared at her through lowered lashes.
“What?” Molly wouldn’t leave it alone so she might as well get it over with.
“I think you need to be honest with yourself.” Molly blew into her mug. Steam curled up toward her broad face. “You have feelings for Brody and you’re afraid that’ll change when you read what’s in that file. Have you considered that whatever’s in there might not even mean anything? Maybe it’s open to interpretation.”
“He didn’t deny that he’d lied,” Nicole said more to herself than Molly. “He was like a wild animal. He phased right in front of me.”
“Sean?” Molly’s face broadcast her confusion.
“Brody has the L-virus. He told me he was bitten a couple weeks ago.”
Molly’s face went stony all of the sudden. She said nothing about Nicole’s apparent lack of trust or her failure to clue her in. Nicole expected her to complain, but she looked at her over the cup of coffee instead.
Nicole rubbed fists against her eyes and sighed. “Something happened to me, I couldn’t control it. The wolf struggled to break free.”
Molly sat her mug down with a clank. Coffee sloshed onto the table and across her hand. She didn’t notice. “What happened?”
“Brody and Tony were fighting. The blood, the adrenaline, something just burst inside me and I wanted to get right in the middle of it. Tony was knocked down and I ambushed Brody. At first I had every intention of making him bleed, but…” She hung her head and squeezed her eyes shut to block out her humiliation. “If Sean hadn’t jerked him away, I might have molested him right there.”
“It’s close to the full moon.”
Nicole shook her head. “I’m still taking the wolfsbane Sean gave me. It shouldn’t affect me like that."
“How did Brody change? Wouldn’t he struggle with it? It sounds like he was Brody one minute, wolf-man the next.”
Nicole’s head had begun to pound. “I guess he and Tony took Beast. It’s the most logical answer, isn’t it? Brody just partially phased. Only his hands and ears were wolfish.”
Molly moved around the coffee table and sat on the couch beside her friend. “Maybe it’s not that bad. I’ve never seen him take any pills and he doesn’t have needle tracks.” She said the next bit with hesitance. “Besides, you just said you were affected and you don’t take BST.”
“But I didn’t change!” Nicole looked away. That wasn’t quite right. She had twice now, to some extent. “His ears got pointy. The bones in his face and hands moved. It was like his skin was liquid for a moment.”
Nicole snatched the folder off the table. Molly leaned closer so she could see too.
A photocopy of Brody was nestled inside. Molly touched the corner of the photo with a polished peach nail. “He looked good in uniform.”
Nicole ignored the remark. The dates of his service were scrawled in pen underneath. She flipped to the next page, which was a summary of his dismissal from the San Diego police department. The pages beyond that were somewhat out of order. There was a record of his few arrests. One was for breaking and entering the other was an assault. The mug shot clipped to the reports revealed an unkempt Brody. The next page stole her breath. A newspaper clipping, yellowed and curled with age, depicted a young boy’s pouting face. Below it, a clinical description of a boy who became infected then killed his own father.
“Oh my god,” Nicole whispered in a broken voice. Emotion choked her and the next words were somewhat garbled. “He was twelve years old.”
Molly slipped the clipping from her trembling fingers a
nd scanned it. “The neighbors claim Frank Dunn was a drunk who beat his child on a regular basis. Brody always had bruises that couldn’t be explained. He and his dad screamed at each other all the time. The police couldn’t prove anything and Brody wouldn’t talk about it. His mother left about a year later and he was placed in foster care."
Nicole couldn’t bear to look at the pages of Brody’s life one second more. She deposited the folder onto the table with a smack. “Why lie? Why pretend to have just been bitten?"
Molly picked up the folder and turned the pages in search of the answer. “He’s a private investigator now. Maybe he was on a case.”
“You’re not helping.” Nicole’s eyes stung with hurt and anger. “Why would he make such an elaborate game out of it? I slept with him, Molly."
“Oh.” Molly ducked her head. “How sure are you that all of this, excluding the newspaper clipping, is real? What if Sean concocted all this just to mess with you?”
Nicole shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.”
Why couldn’t Molly just let it go? Nicole needed to distance herself from this. She needed time to think. She swung her legs off the couch.
“Ask him.” Molly’s words stopped her in her tracks.
Nicole looked over her shoulder and raised a brow. “What?”
“Ask Brody why he lied,” Molly suggested. “He owes you that much."
“What makes you think he’ll tell the truth? Everything he’s ever said was a lie.” She pointed at the discarded folder. “You read that, didn’t you?”
Molly shrugged and stretched her feet beneath the table. She seemed to choose her words with caution. “Did you trust him before you found out he was kicked out of the SDPD? Before you watched him wolf out?”
“That’s beside the point! He pretended to be someone he’s not. For what purpose? To what end?” She hugged her arms around herself. “What else was he lying about?”
Molly stood and gathered the mugs. “I wish I knew, Nicky. Until you talk to him, I guess we’ll never have the answers.”
Nicole watched Molly leave the room. The clank and rattle of dishes filled the silence. Once again, she sank onto the couch and drew her knees up. The folder lay on the end of the cushion, a reminder of all that had gone wrong.
He hadn’t trusted her with whatever he was hiding. If she was honest with herself, the signs that he was untruthful had been there, she just didn’t want to see them. You just don’t heal that rapidly from a bite, human or otherwise. Especially if it drew blood. All his answers were iffy. He’d played off her emotions that night at the beach. Or perhaps she’d only perceived what she’d wanted. And what about the night they made love?
She stood, considered taking the file, but in the end she just didn’t want to touch it. Molly had finished the dishes by now. She filled the hallway. Nicole stopped where she was, unable to pass.
“Let’s do something to get your mind off this. Name it, we’ll do it.”
Molly looked hopeful, but Nicole didn’t feel like watching a movie or going out to eat. “I think I’ll go for a run. Maybe that’ll help clear my head.”
Molly nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
Fifteen minutes later, Nicole had already changed into running shorts and a sports bra. She watched Molly bend to tie her shoes. “Are you sure you want to come? I’m not the best company right now.”
“Of course I’m coming.” Molly rolled her eyes and Nicole’s concerns seemed like the silliest notion.
Nicole’s smile brightened. “I promise to run slow so you can keep up.”
The beach was quiet except for the water’s song. A partial moon peeked out from behind a cloud and made wavy patterns on the dark surface. Most of the houses on the beach were vacant. Tourist season had begun to wind down now, but a few were still occupied.
Molly huffed beside Nicole. They’d just started and already she was breathing hard. A light sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead and upper lip. Nicole slowed her pace to allow her friend to catch up.
Nicole walked alongside her. “Hey, we can take a break if you need to.”
Molly wiped the sweat from her brow. “I’m okay. Go ahead and run, I’m going to walk for a minute and catch my breath.”
Nicole sprinted ahead, feet kicking up sand. Her hair streamed behind her and the wind whistled in her ears.
Sean’s house was up ahead. The lights were out, no indication that he was home. It was just as well, she wasn’t ready to talk to him anyway. She faltered, remembering he was supposed to drop by her apartment. Oh well, he could get over it.
She streaked past four or five more houses, but decided she’d better circle back to Molly. It wouldn’t do to get too far ahead. She turned to run back the way she’d come. A glimpse of movement caught her eye. She concentrated on the pumping of her arms and the pounding of her legs on the sand. It probably was nothing to worry about, a stray dog maybe.
There it was again, low to the ground, it snaked out of the shadows behind her. She glanced over her shoulder again. A wolfish form loped toward her. Down the beach, just a few hundred yards away, Molly’s shrill scream pierced the night.
Nicole ducked her head and tucked her arms close to her body. Her lungs burned and ached, but she didn’t slow her pace. The wolf behind her gained ground.
Molly came into view and another wolf stood between her and Nicole.
Nicole skidded to a halt just a few feet away from them. The wolf behind her slowed its pace as well. Despite her better judgment, Nicole called out to the one in front of Molly. “Hey, leave her alone!”
The Lycan rose onto its bowed, dog-like back legs. It turned toward her. His shuffling movement revealed a ragged ear and damaged eyelid that hid a cloudy white eye. She spotted the glint of gold in its mouth.
Behind her, the other one drew closer.
Nicole stood poised, ready to run. If nothing else, she could draw them away from Molly.
The breath stilled in her lungs and her heartbeat hammered in her chest. The other was recognizable as well. Even without the missing fur at the throat, which revealed a jagged scar or the greasy dark hair, she would have known him. It was the eyes that gave him away. The vicious, dark brown glare could only be Aaron.
Nicole wished she had a weapon, anything to protect herself and Molly from the two deadly creatures.
She didn’t bother to try and rationalize with Aaron. Past experience told her it would do no good. Fear would fuel his dark desire for violence and no amount of pleading would stop him.
Neither wolf was interested in Molly. Looks could be deceiving though and she knew they’d attack her with the least amount of provocation.
“Go for help if you can.” She took a step backward and Tony’s good ear twitched. Aaron’s muzzle dripped with saliva.
Molly’s eyes conveyed fear as watched the houses along the beach. She understood what was required of her. “There’s another one up on the hill,” she warbled.
Nicole didn’t have time to look. Tony and Aaron moved as one as they advanced toward her. She whirled to run. Once again, her legs carried her down the beachfront. She had to trust that Molly would be okay. Perhaps the other Lycan would join the chase.
Tony and Aaron ran behind her, their claws crunched in the sand. The one on the hill kept an unhurried pace with them; its silvery white fur shimmered in the moonlight. A strange sense of recognition shook her. Was this the same wolf that had been in Amy’s apartment?
Aaron dove for her legs, twisting them together and forced her to stumble. She threw her hands out to catch herself and hit the ground. Sand peppered her face and stung her eyes.
Another wolf scurried past Molly. She was knocked to the ground. This wolf was on all fours, fast and graceful as it neared. Scraps of cloth flew from its reddish-brown body like colorful streamers.
Aaron’s teeth snapped close to her ear. She screamed and rolled out of reach when he d
ove for her again.
Tony whirled to see who had advanced on them. The newcomer darted in and tore a hunk of fur from his shoulder. Tony swiped at him, but missed. The brown wolf leapt past him to pounce on Aaron’s back and rolled him off Nicole. Both creatures snapped and clawed at each other. The wolf latched onto Aaron’s throat and gave it a violent shake. The sand was dotted with scarlet in their wake.
Nicole brought her knees up and kicked out. The action sent Tony backward. She scrambled to her feet and lurched toward Molly. Tony righted himself, anger blazing anew in his good eye. His teeth latched onto her calf and he yanked her backward. She tore at his hands with her nails and kicked out with her free leg.
Finally, her body responded. Excruciating pain rocketed down her spine and she knew it had nothing to do with Tony’s rough hands. Her knuckles cracked and popped as her nails became claws.
Tony tossed her toward the creatures. She struck the sand and rolled limbs akimbo, toward them. Aaron continued to struggle with the brown wolf. He came within inches of stepping on her.
Enough was enough. She got to her hands and knees and grasped Aaron’s left ankle. She gave him a hard yank that sent him tumbling. The reddish-brown wolf hopped over her and gripped Aaron’s left leg in its powerful jaws. He hauled Aaron up and gave the leg a sharp twist. He made a cross between a growl and satisfied huffing noise. The black wolf fell away with a cry of pain.
Tony jumped into the space between them within a matter of moments. He reared up on two feet and backhanded Nicole.
She crumpled to the sand and the back of her head smacked a chunk of driftwood. The taste of blood was sharp on her tongue. Nicole lay stunned and stared at the star blotted sky as a stark realization struck her. She and Molly might die on this beach tonight.
Aaron dragged himself across the sand. He and Tony continued to advance. The unknown wolf stood poised, ready to fight again. His hair stood on end and sharp teeth were bared.
Bitter Black Kiss Page 14