“I was going through a phase where I was obsessed with comedy prank shows like Jackass and stuff. After months of hearing people saying how Will was so wonderful, and I needed to be more like it, I thought it would be funny to get revenge on Will by playing a prank on him. I didn’t want to hurt him, I just wanted to take his ego down a peg or two by giving him a scare. I got home from school earlier than him one day, and set up airhorn in the fridge so that when he went to get a snack, it would jumpscare him.”
Grace started to cry as the story unraveled, and her mother stared at her in shock. Ever since the accident, Grace had insisted it was her fault, but Captain Alcott had never heard this story before. She could only listen in horror as her daughter continued speaking.
“It did scare him, and he stumbled backward and lost his balance. His spine hit the floor, and he cried out in agony. I immediately called 911, and while I waited for the ambulance to arrive, I hid the airhorn, so no one would know the truth. I hoped Will wouldn’t realize what had happened so he couldn’t reveal that it was my fault. I never meant for him to be paralyzed. I promise I didn’t want to hurt him. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I should be in that wheelchair, not Will. It should have been me.”
Grace couldn’t control her tears now, and her sobs came out in shuddering breaths. Her heart felt both lighter and heavier - lighter for having finally confessed to what she’d done, but heavier now that her mom knew the awful, terrible truth.
Captain Alcott continued to stare at her daughter in shock, unable to comprehend Grace’s words. The color slowly drained from her face as the revelation set in, and eventually, she whispered, “Get out.”
Grace blinked. “What?”
“Get out,” Captain Alcott said, raising her voice slightly. “I’m putting you on a leave of absence. I will assign someone else to the case.”
Grace opened her mouth but no sound came out. All she could do was gape at her mom. Eventually, she realized nothing she could say or do would change her mother’s mind, so she stood and left the office.
Without a word to anyone, Grace shut down her computer, gathered her belongings, and left the station. In a daze, she walked home, unable to wrap her head around how drastically her life had changed in less than 24 hours. She’d slept with the man she was now realizing she’d started to fall for, only for him to leave her apartment in the middle of the night, and then mere hours later, she’d confessed her darkest secret to her mother, and was placed on a leave of absence at work. Part of Grace couldn’t believe all this was happening. Another part knew she was getting exactly what she deserved.
Grace contemplated visiting Will. She needed to see her twin, to see he was doing okay, and maybe even seek his comfort. But she didn’t deserve that, either. Just like Derek, and her parents, and the police force, Grace knew Will would be better off without her. Instead, she went to the Maple Inn and bought a bottle of whiskey, then went home to drown her sorrows and block out the world.
Grace sat alone in her apartment. She’d turned her phone off so no one could contact her, and just to be extra safe, had disconnected the landline. She’d drawn all the curtains, changed into her pajamas, and taking the bottle of whiskey with her, had climbed into bed. Slowly sipping from the amber liquid, Grace thought of all the ways in which she’d failed. In her mind, she listed every person she’d ever let down, and the more she thought, and the more she drank, the more certain she became that the world was better off without her.
At some point, she must have passed out, because the next thing she knew, she woke up in a bed soaked in alcohol, with someone hammering on her apartment door.
Groggily, Grace pulled herself out of bed and padded out of the room and along the hallway. Her head spun and her stomach spasmed. She had no idea how much time had passed. All she knew was whoever was pounding on the door was making her head scream in agony, and that if she remained on her feet much longer, she was going to throw up.
Slumping against the wall, Grace managed to open the front door and Derek Hargrove came rushing in, panic blazed across his face.
Grace looked up, the world spinning around her, and puked on his feet.
56
Derek
After his shower, Derek changed his clothes, trained his face into a mask of impassiveness and went downstairs to breakfast.
Jason was sitting at the table, his plate piled high, as he shoveled food in his mouth. He raised his mug of coffee in greeting and Derek flopped down in a seat next to his best friend.
“Where were you last night?” Jason asked after he’d swallowed a mouthful of bacon and eggs.
Fuck, Derek cursed internally. If Jason had noticed his absence, there was no way he’d be able to avoid his friend’s questions. Knowing there was nothing else for it, he replied, in a hushed tone, “Not here. I’ll meet you on my lunch break and tell you everything.”
Jason gave a satisfied nod and poured a cup of coffee for Derek, as he started loading food onto his plate.
After breakfast, Ben summoned Derek to his office.
Derek dropped into a chair opposite his boss. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to check-in and see how you were getting on with the case, and ask if you’d found any new leads on the Carnegies?” Ben said.
Derek’s shoulders slumped. He was coming up short on both fronts. “Nothing new... well, actually, there was something.”
Ben sat forward eagerly in his chair. “Go on.”
“Yesterday me and Grace Alcott searched Mountain View Cemetery for any clues as to what happened to the latest missing kid. I caught his scent, and it seemed like he either turned back around and walked back the way he came, or simply vanished out of thin air.” Ben raised an eyebrow, and Derek continued. “That wasn’t the strangest part. Where his scent stopped, so did all other scents. I couldn’t smell any bodies or the animals and plants in the area. There was just nothing.”
“Hmmm.” Ben tapped his chin thoughtfully. “That is strange and suggests whoever took the kids is covering their tracks. This seems more organized, and less random than Captain Alcott originally thought. It takes some effort to not just hide your scent, but to remove all other scents. Whoever is doing this isn’t just some random child abductor.”
Derek nodded in agreement. “That’s what me and Grace thought, too, so we went back to her place to see if we could find any connection between the locations the kids had disappeared from.”
“You went back to Grace Alcott’s apartment?” Ben asked with a raised eyebrow. “I noticed you didn’t come back here last night.”
Derek huffed out a breath. Of course Ben had noticed he hadn’t come home, too.
“Yes, I spent the night with her. But don’t worry, it won’t happen again. I know after what happened when I was fifteen no one would want to be with me.”
Ben’s eyes widened. “What happened when you were fifteen was an accident. If Grace accepts you being a shifter, I’m sure she’ll understand what happened back then, too.”
Derek shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to pursue her anymore. She deserves better.”
“Don’t do this to yourself, Derek,” Ben said, his voice taking on a fatherly tone. “I know what that man did to you, and all you suffered at his hands, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve love or happiness.”
“I’m a killer. I deserve to be alone.”
Ben opened his mouth to argue, but Derek got to his feet and stormed out of the office. Ben didn’t understand. No one could ever understand what it was like to have blood on your hands.
Ignoring Ben’s shouts, and Jason’s curious glances, Derek left the fire station. He got in his truck and drove out to October Mountain State Forest, making sure his phone was on in case there was an emergency. He’d been so busy helping Grace track the missing teens that he’d neglected his search for the Carnegies, and if he was serious about going back into solitude, he had had to make sure his pack was safe before he left.
Derek stripped out of his clothes, folded them neatly and placed them on the driver’s seat of the truck, then changed forms. His bones cracked, his muscles popped and pain rippled through his skin as he shifted from man to wolf. Now in his animal form, Derek sniffed the ground for the familiar scent of the Carnegies and Eloise. The scents were fainter than they had been, worn away by time, and covered by various animals and humans in the area, but if he focused hard enough, he could find it.
He followed the scent, slowly walking through the forest, and remaining alert for any clues he might have previously missed until he reached the spot where he’d found Eloise’s body. He lifted his head and howled, mourning his fallen pack-mate. He pawed at the ground where Eloise had been killed, then started sniffing around for the scent of the Carnegies.
And that’s where he smelled it... or more accurately, he smelled nothing. Just like when he’d searched Mountain View Cemetery, he suddenly became aware of a lack of scent. Eloise’s scent vanished and he could smell nothing else. No soil, no animals, no plants. Nothing.
A disturbing thought entered his mind. Were the Carnegies taking kids from Lenox?
He raced back to his truck and transformed back into his human form, hurrying to throw on his clothes. He checked his phone and when he saw he had no messages or missed calls, he texted Jason to let his friend know he couldn’t meet him for lunch. Then he started up the engine, and tore out of October Mountain State Forest, heading in the direction of Lenox police station.
Derek skidded into the parking lot, his tires screeching on the tarmac as he pulled to a halt. He hurried into the police station, impatiently giving the woman at the reception desk his name, and demanding she let him see Captain Alcott immediately.
“Please calm down, Mr. Hargrove,” the receptionist said desperately.
Derek took a deep breath to steady himself. “I’m sorry. It’s just really important I speak to Captain Alcott. I think I have a lead on the missing children.”
“Okay, I’ll let the Captain know you’re here,” the receptionist said, and just like the first time he’d visited the station, she picked up the phone on the desk and called the Captain. A few moments later, the receptionist said, “Go right through.”
“Thanks,” Derek said with a nod, entering the main room of the station. He scanned the room for Grace, but there was no sign of her, and he felt a ball of guilt settle in his stomach. Even if he couldn’t be with her, he shouldn’t have left in the middle of the night like that without explanation. She deserved better.
Vowing to apologize to Grace as soon as he’d informed her and Captain Alcott of his suspicions, he knocked on the Captain’s door.
“Enter,” she called, her voice sounding weaker than usual.
He entered the office to find the police Captain sitting at her desk with red-rimmed eyes, drinking from a half-empty bottle of Scotch.
She looked up blearily as Derek entered, her vision struggling to focus on him.
“What’s going on?” he demanded, his heart pounding as fear flooded his veins. “Has something happened to Grace?”
Captain Alcott sniffed. “She’s been given a leave of absence.”
Derek stared at the Captain in shock. “What? Why?”
Louise Alcott shook her head. “That’s not important. What is important is finding the missing teens. I’ve reassigned her case to Officer Dawson, and I hope you’ll be willing to continue your partnership with him instead?”
Ignoring Captain Alcott, Derek asked, “Where’s Grace?”
Shocking him, Captain Alcott shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t really care.”
Derek’s eyes widened. What the hell was going on? He didn’t wait for an explanation, nor did he agree to partner with Officer Dawson. Instead, he stormed from the office, and out of the station, then got back into his truck.
In a crazed haze, he drove to Grace’s apartment block, all the while worrying what had happened to her. Why had she been given a leave of absence? Why had Captain Alcott looked so distraught? Suddenly a horrifying thought entered his mind. What if Captain Alcott had lied about Grace being given a leave of absence because she was missing too? What if the Carnegies had taken her? It didn’t matter to him at that moment that Captain Alcott had said she didn’t care where Grace was, or that he had no proof the Carnegies were the ones taking the kids, let alone Grace, he became convinced she was in danger.
Derek fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed Grace’s number, but it went straight to the answerphone. He tried five more times before giving it up as a lost cause, and started pressing the keypad beside the front door to her apartment block, hoping she was home. When no one answered, his panic grew, and he started pressing buttons at random, hoping someone would let him in. Eventually, someone answered, and he lied saying he lived in the building, but had forgotten his keys. Grace’s neighbor let Derek into the apartment building, and he bounded up the stairs, taking two at a time, as he rushed to her door.
He hammered on the door, not stopping until he heard someone open it from the other side, and he rushed inside to find a disheveled looking Grace propped up against the door. Her eyes were bloodshot and she swayed on her feet for a moment, before puking on the ground in front of him.
“Grace, what’s happened?” he asked, gripping her shoulders as guilt settled in his stomach. Had he done this to her? He hadn’t realized she cared about him so deeply.
Grace tried to focus on his face, but she could barely remain upright, so Derek led her into the bedroom. It reeked of alcohol, and as he went to lay her down in the bed, he discovered her sheets were soaked in whiskey.
“What’s going on?” he asked, the panic rising again as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the dark living room.
Derek placed Grace on the couch, then turned on the lights, causing her to hiss at the brightness. He switched them off again, then left the room to locate the kitchen, and poured her a glass of water. When Derek returned to the living room, Grace was sitting up, clutching her head.
“God, what a mess,” she said, staring at him wide-eyed. “No wonder you left me. I’m a disaster.”
Derek’s chest tightened and he dropped down onto the couch next to her. “I didn’t leave because of you. I’m the disaster, not you.”
Grace frowned. “What are you on about? You never played a prank that paralyzed your own twin.”
Derek watched Grace as she blurted out the whole story of what had happened to Will when they were fifteen, and how she’d kept it a secret all this time. She continued by telling him about her confession to her mother, and Captain Alcott’s reaction.
Comprehension dawned on Derek, and even though Grace’s confession was terrible, he let out a sigh of relief. She was safe.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. “It wasn’t your fault. You were young and made a mistake, but your parents will forgive you eventually.”
“How can they forgive me if I can’t even forgive myself?” Grace sobbed.
Derek stroked her back as Grace buried her head in his chest and started to cry. They sat in darkness and silence as the grief poured out of her. For a moment, he contemplated confessing his own dark secret, but knew what he’d done was different from what Grace had done. She wasn’t a killer, and the murder he’d committed hadn’t been an accident. Besides, she had enough to deal with as it was, he couldn’t burden her with his own failures, too.
57
Grace
Eventually, Grace cried herself out and lifted her head to peer into Derek’s eyes. After all that had happened, after what she’d confessed to, she couldn’t believe he was here.
“What are you doing here?” her voice came out as a hoarse whisper.
“I was out at October Mountain State Forest, tracking an enemy of the pack’s when I sensed the same thing I did in the cemetery. The absence of scent.”
Grace’s eyes widened, and she asked, “You think this enemy of your pack might be the
ones taking the kids?”
“I don’t know,” Derek replied, rolling out the tension in his shoulders. He and Grace settled back on the couch, though his arms remained around hers. “But if they, then you could be in danger. That’s why I came here. I went to see you and your mom at the precinct, and she told me you’d been given a leave of absence. Only I was so scared about your safety that I thought she was lying to cover up the fact you’d been taken too.”
Grace’s cheeks flushed. She couldn’t work this man out. Last night he had been tender and loving, then passionate and ardent as she’d given her body over to him and he’d claimed her, only for him to leave in the middle of the night. After that, she thought that was the end of things, that he didn’t want her. Yet he’d rushed to seek her out when he thought she was in danger, comforted her when she’d confessed about Will, and now held her gently as he relayed all he knew about the dangers to his pack.
“Who are these people that are endangering your pack?” she asked, unable to bring herself to question his conflicting actions. Talking about what was going on between the two of them would have to wait until this mystery was solved.
“Do you remember a family named the Carnegies from your history lessons?”
“Yes, wasn’t there something about them stealing Shadowbrook from your pack over a hundred years ago?”
Firefighter Wolves Shifters (A Paranormal Romance Series Boxset) Page 27