She held my gaze for a long moment before she sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I just know he won’t be happy about being kept in the dark.”
I shot a glance at Wyatt who looked ready to throw me over his shoulder and march out of the office.
“Well, I’m going to take the blame for this one. I did what I thought was best at the time. Now that we know it was foul play, I’ll call and fill him in.”
Her pale blue eyes got wide. “Foul play?”
My smile was grim. “Apparently my brake lines were cut.”
She gasped. “Oh, Ellie.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, that was definitely not the news I was hoping for.”
“What are you going to do?”
Wyatt stepped up next to me and grasped my bicep. “We’re going to figure out who the hell is responsible and make them pay.” He looked down at me, his expression hard. “We’re leaving now, Ellie.”
I narrowed my eyes at him before shooting Callie an apologetic look. “I’ll talk to you when you get home.”
The worried expression was still pinching her soft features. “Get there safe.”
Wyatt grunted. “Thanks for the suggestion, Callista.”
I shot him another annoyed look, but he wasn’t paying attention. He was too busy dragging me down the hall and through the front door. When we were out on the sidewalk, I ripped my arm out of his grasp and turned on him.
“You didn’t have to be so rude to Callie. She’s just concerned.”
He ran a rough hand down his face and looked away. “She’s not always so nice to me, either.”
I raised a brow at him. “And since when do two wrongs make a right?”
He sighed harshly and tipped his head back to stare at the bright blue summer sky. “Can we not talk about this right now? My only concern is getting you home safely. Everything else can wait.”
I let out a deep breath and nodded. I knew the events of the morning were wearing on Wyatt. It was his job to keep me safe, and he almost hadn’t been able to do that. Of course, it wasn’t his fault someone cut my brake lines, and it was impossible for him to have known that in advance, but I knew none of that would matter to him. He had a job, and he needed to do it. It was as simple as that.
A dark red SUV pulled up to the curb and Wyatt let out a deep breath. “Thank fuck,” he muttered as he ushered me toward the vehicle.
Wyatt’s twin, Wesley, was behind the wheel and he shot me a small smile as I climbed into the backseat. I barely held back an eye roll as Wyatt insisted on watching me buckle up before getting in the front. I knew his protectiveness was in overdrive, but he was bordering on ridiculous.
The car remained mostly quiet as we drove back to pack lands. I had to assume Wyatt had already filled Wes in on the events of the morning. The rocking motion of the truck wasn’t helping my weak stomach, but somehow, I held the sickness at bay.
When we arrived, Wyatt jumped out of the SUV before Wes even put it in park. He ripped my door open, almost pulling it from the hinges.
“Let’s go.”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and gathered my things as quickly as I could. He slid my briefcase and purse off my shoulder and handed them to Wes who’d just made it to our side.
“Make sure this stuff makes it up to their sitting room.”
Wes nodded and accepted my bags before Wyatt placed another hand on my back and led me toward the pack houses. No words were exchanged while we walked, but my mind was a flurry of activity.
Who’d cut my brake lines?
Who hated me enough to sabotage my car?
With a soft snort, I realized that list was actually decent-sized. I’d made a few friends since I’d started acting like an alpha, but I’d also also accrued some enemies. I suppose it was inevitable, but it still didn’t feel good.
We got to the tenth pack house and found Brad’s garage open with my car lifted inside it. We walked up the driveway, and when we got closer, the mechanic popped his head into the open doorway.
“You guys got here fast,” he commented.
“Explain what you found,” Wyatt grunted without even a semblance of a hello.
I shot him another glare, but he ignored me. Man, he was moody today.
Brad sighed and nodded toward my car. “Come on over and I’ll show you.”
Wyatt did as he asked, but I hung back. To be honest, I didn’t really want to see the evidence I knew would be there. But just because I didn’t want to see it didn’t mean I couldn’t still hear what they were saying.
“If you look here, you’ll see where the brake line was severed,” Brad said.
Wyatt grunted again. “Is it possible this could have happened on its own?”
Brad sighed. “No, and I’ll tell you why. Here, you can see there’s a straight cut through most of the brake line, but not all the way. What that did was make it so the brakes would work the first few times you used them, but eventually they’d fail.”
I didn’t need to look to know Wyatt was grinding his teeth.
“So, they wanted her to already be well on her way to work.”
I turned just in time to catch Brad shrug.
“And I bet they knew she’d be on the highway when they finally failed. They wanted to make sure she was going fast enough to do serious damage,” Wyatt continued.
Brad shrugged again, the look on his face showing how uncomfortable he was. “It looks that way,” he finally said.
Wyatt nodded, his hands fisting at his sides. “So, this was done by someone who knew what they were doing?”
Brad’s eyes darted to me before he fixed them back on Wyatt. “That would be my guess. Your average Joe would probably have just cut right through. Only someone who really knew about this stuff would sever them partially.”
“Why do you think that?” I asked as I finally joined them in the garage.
Brad’s chocolate colored eyes met mine. “If they cut the line completely, your brakes would have given out almost immediately. Then you would have known something was wrong and you wouldn’t have kept driving.” His eyes darted to Wyatt, almost as if he was afraid to keep talking. Finally, he sighed and met my gaze again. “But because they only partially severed them, you were able to use them a few times, giving you a false sense of security. If this person knew you’d be taking the highway to work, I can guess their intention was for your brakes to stop working then. When you were going the fastest and had the greatest chance of wrecking.”
My stomach fell while Wyatt let out a menacing growl. “I bet it was that fuck, Craig,” he grunted, his knuckles white with how tight he was squeezing his hands.
Brad looked uncomfortable as his eyes darted between Wyatt and me. He shrugged. “I guess it could have been Craig, but probably not.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
I was grasping at straws. I knew Craig and I had our differences, but I didn’t want to believe he’d try to kill me over them.
My stomach sank even farther as those words echoed through my head.
Someone tried to kill me today. That was the only reason someone would cut my brake lines in the hopes I’d be going too fast to stop.
Someone was trying to kill me.
Brad’s voice broke me out of the dark turn my thoughts had taken.
“If it was Craig, he probably would have cut your e-brake line too.”
“So, she would have had no way to stop,” Wyatt spat between gritted teeth.
Brad looked scared as he nodded at Wyatt. “If I was trying to kill someone, that’s what I’d do.”
In the next instant, Wyatt had Brad pinned against the wall, his hand around his throat.
“Wyatt! What the hell are you doing?!” I screeched.
“Was it you?” Wyatt growled into Brad’s face. “You seem to know an awful lot about this shi
t. Were you the one who tried to kill our alpha?”
Brad’s face had turned completely white, his body shaking slightly. “No, man! Why would I kill Ellie?! She got me the job of my dreams! I’d never hurt her!”
I could hear the sincerity in his voice, and I hoped Wyatt could too. There was another tense couple of moments before Wyatt finally released Brad and took a step back. He ran a rough hand down his face and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have accused you like that.”
Brad straightened back up. “It’s okay, man. I get why you’re upset. I’m pissed too.”
Wyatt sighed, his shoulders so tense they almost reached his ears. He turned to me, the look in his eyes wild. “You’re calling Abraham. Now.”
I bristled at his tone but didn’t comment. It was clear Wyatt was on the edge and I wouldn’t be the one to push him over it. “Okay. I’ll call him when we get back to the lodge.”
Wyatt shook his head and stormed over, holding his phone out to me. “No. Now.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and pulled my own cell from my pocket. “All right. Jeez.”
Despite my cavalier attitude, my heart was racing with the coming confrontation. I knew Abraham was going to flip out, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I just hoped he was so mad about the brake failure that he didn’t have time to be angry about the fact that I hadn’t called him sooner.
I dialed his number and put the phone to my ear before I turned my back on the two men and walked down the driveway. I saw Maddy coming out of her house next door and I gave her a wave, hoping my smile didn’t look as fake as it felt.
“Hey, baby. How’s working goin’?” Abraham asked after answering on the second ring.
I took a deep breath. “Actually, I left early today.”
“Still not feeling well? I’m starting to really worry, El. You’ve never been this sick before. Maybe you need to go see Doc Monroe and get checked out. There could be something else causing you to be this ill.”
I shook my head even though I knew he couldn’t see me. “That’s not why I left. Something happened this morning, and we just found out some new information about it, so Wyatt and I left early and came back to pack lands.”
He was quiet for a prolonged moment before his deep voice rumbled through the phone line. “What happened this morning and why am I just hearing about it now?”
I took another breath and launched into the story about what happened during my drive to work. I purposely avoided his question of why I hadn’t told him earlier. Hopefully we could argue about it later, because a headache was forming behind my temples and I really wasn’t in the mood to fight right then.
When I finished telling him everything Brad revealed to us, Abraham remained silent on the other end. So silent, in fact, that I pulled the phone away from my ear and checked the screen to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped.
“Abraham?”
“I’m on my way home.”
I sighed. “That’s not necessary.”
“It’s not negotiable. I’m leaving now.”
I let out another deep breath. “Where are you?”
“Outside Raleigh. I’ll be home in a couple hours.”
“Abraham, that’s a four-hour drive.”
“And with the way I’m feeling right now, I could probably run it in half that time.”
I winced and looked down at my feet. “I know you’re worried, but I’m fine. I’m here on pack lands and I’m sure Wyatt has no intention of leaving my side anytime soon.”
There was a loud bang on the other end of the line, and I cringed. “I’m not fucking worried, El. I’m murderous.”
Well, this was going worse than I thought.
I sighed again. “I know you’re mad, but please drive safe. I don’t need anything happening to you.”
He laughed, but it was humorless. “It’s clearly not me we have to worry about. I’ll see you soon.”
With that, he hung up and my stomach fell. I had a feeling there was a storm heading my way, and it was in the shape of a tall, dark, and handsome alpha werewolf.
Chapter 39
Wyatt waited with me in the kitchen while I paced the floor. It had only been a couple hours since I spoke with Abraham, but if he made good on his threat, he could be home any minute.
My stomach still felt sick, but thankfully, I hadn’t thrown up since I was in the office. Which was good since I couldn’t focus on anything but the coming confrontation with my fiancé.
The roar of a vehicle speeding up the drive reached us all the way in the kitchen, and I cringed. Apparently, Abraham was home.
My belly flipped as I made my way out to the lot. I was excited to see him because I’d missed him so much, but at the same time, I was worried about how he’d react to what happened that morning. It couldn’t be good that he’d had hours alone to stew about this mess on his drive home.
The second his black pickup came to a screeching halt, he was out the door and storming over to me. I braced myself for the fight I knew was coming, but he surprised me by wrapping his arms around my shoulders and tugging me into his hard chest.
I let out a deep breath, letting his familiar scent wash over me as I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“I missed you,” I mumbled against him.
The only answer I got was a grunt.
A few moments later, he pulled away and held me at arm’s length. His dark blue eyes raked over every inch of my body before he nodded once. Seemingly satisfied with his inspection, he turned on his heel and stormed off.
I stood there confused for a moment before jogging after him. Heavy footsteps sounded behind me and I knew Wyatt was hot on my heels.
“Abraham! Where are you going?”
“Stay in the lodge, Elizabeth.”
Ha. Fat chance.
I had to run to keep up with him as he raced toward the pack houses. He made a beeline to the fourth house and raised his fist to bang on the door. The second Craig answered, Abraham pulled him out of his house and wrapped his hand around his throat.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know it was you?” Abraham growled inches away from his face.
Craig’s dark eyes bulged out of his head as he turned red. “What are you talking about?” he wheezed.
Abraham pulled him back and slammed him against the side of his house. “You fucked with her car. You tried to kill my mate.” He growled the last word so low I almost missed it.
I ran up to them and grabbed Abraham’s bulging bicep. “It wasn’t him, Abraham! Let him go!”
He tried to shake me off, his attention still riveted on Craig.
“You threatened her and then someone cuts her brake lines and you expect me to not believe it was you? Just admit it before I tear your throat out.”
Craig’s eyes were bloodshot as he clawed at Abraham’s hand still wrapped around his neck. “I… didn’t… do anything!” he gasped.
I tugged on his arm again. “Abraham, we don’t think it was him! Just let him go!”
He finally turned to me and I almost wish he hadn’t. His face had been transformed from the handsome features I was so used to seeing to this mask of fiery rage. I almost didn’t recognize him.
“I know it was him, Elizabeth. You need to go back to the lodge and let me handle this.”
He turned back to Craig and squeezed his throat tighter. The older man had to be close to passing out at this point and I knew I had to do something. I spun around to Wyatt who was looking on with wide eyes.
“Say something to him!” I yelled at Wyatt. “Tell him what Brad told us!”
Wyatt shook his head and stepped toward us. “She’s right, Alpha. Brad doesn’t believe it was Craig.”
Abraham snarled and slammed Craig against the wall again. “Of course it was him! Who else could it be?”
I grabbed his arm again. “We’re not sure yet, but it wasn’t Craig. Let him go and we can talk about this.”
Abraham turned his molten eyes toward me again and I held them as best I could. Finally, he growled and let go of Craig, who fell to the ground. He sputtered and coughed and wheezed, and I felt so bad, I knelt beside him.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly.
He looked up at me with wide eyes and nodded. “I’ll be all right,” he whispered. I figured his throat had to be sore and my insides twisted with guilt.
I should have filled Abraham in completely. I should have called him back after he hung up with me and made sure he had the whole story. Instead, he’d spent the hours-long drive home letting his rage build until he could unleash it on poor Craig.
I wrapped my arm around the ex-mechanic’s shoulders and helped pull him to his feet. When we were both standing again, Abraham reached out and snatched me away from him. I shot a glare at my fiancé, but his gaze was trained on Craig.
“Explain to me why I’m not tearing this asshole apart right now.”
I glanced at Wyatt, but he didn’t seem too eager to speak up again. I took a deep breath and tugged on Abraham’s arm until he was looking at me.
“Let’s go talk to Brad. He’ll tell you his theory.”
Abraham’s eyes darted back to Craig, and he nodded once. I let out a small breath of relief and hung on as Abraham stormed toward the new mechanic’s house. I shot an apologetic look back toward Craig who was still rubbing his bright red neck. With a sigh, I realized he’d have even more reason to hate me now.
We made it to Brad’s house and Abraham stomped up to his door and banged on it until he answered. The messy-haired werewolf’s eyes widened as he took in the furious alpha werewolf and the rest of us struggling to keep up.
“Hey, guys. What’s going on?”
Abraham took a menacing step forward. “I want to know everything you do about what happened today.”
Brad nodded quickly. “Sure. Let’s go take a look.”
Abraham dragged me after him as he followed Brad to the garage. The mechanic immediately launched into the same story he’d told me and Wyatt earlier. The only indication that Abraham was listening was the ticking in his jaw. It would speed up or slow down depending on what Brad was saying at that particular time.
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