Rick

by Dana Archer

  My breath catches. I exhale loudly. “What do you mean, use me?”

  “Your body belongs to me.” He presses his lips to my ear. “As your breeding partner, I can do as I see fit with my possession, and nobody, not even my male-loving alpha, can stop me.”

  “Ethan won’t stand for you hurting me.” Even as the words are out of my mouth, I know they’re false. Unless Todd kills me, Ethan can’t do a darn thing to Todd. Nobody can.

  “Oh, I don’t plan on hurting you. Not this time. I’m just going to make some money off you if you won’t give me the cash I need.”

  “Make money off me…how?” Why won’t he just tell me?

  “Wyatt introduced me to some males who are interested in buying a whore.” He slides his palms over my belly. “A pregnant whore. They offered me a lot of money for a night with you, Mya. A lot. Even more once you start showing.”

  Oh goddesses. My blood turns cold. “You’re going to…to let other males have sex with me?”

  “I don’t care who sleeps with you. If I did, I wouldn’t have allowed you to leave my side, let alone work in a bar where horny males hit on you all the time.”

  “But…but…” I don’t even know what to say.

  Todd turns my head and brushes his lips over mine. I don’t open for him. I never do. Instead of forcing his tongue between my lips like he normally does, he laughs. “I told Wyatt I wasn’t interested ’cause he wants to have a go at you first. That can change, though.”

  “If I don’t come up with the money you need, right?”

  “Exactly.” Todd steps away from me. “Tomorrow night. I’ll be waiting for you. Otherwise, next full moon, you’ll be in my uncle’s bed. On the following full moon, a different male’s bed.”

  I wait until he rounds the side of my apartment building before returning to my van for a scarf. With the bruises on my neck concealed, I head inside my building. With every step I take, Todd’s words are repeating in my head, haunting me.

  He wants to pimp me out. To his uncle. To men I’ve never met.

  My human friends would call me a whore. They’d lose all respect for me. Right now, they feel sorry for me because I keep going back to Todd. Say I show all the classic signs of an abused woman.

  I stop at the door to my third-floor apartment and rub at my itchy, watery eyes. They’re right. I am an abused woman, but for me, it’s different. I want to leave Todd. I can’t. He’s my breeding partner.

  Until Todd dies, he has complete control over me.

  My back arches like it does when Todd manages to destroy my self-esteem. I’ve been with him long enough to understand what it means. I hate my reaction. I hate him.

  Todd ruined me! Stole my future before I ever had a chance to experience life. I wish I’d never agreed to go for a walk with him. Never even talked to him!

  My wolf pushes at my psyche. No aggressive emotions surround her. She wants to comfort me. I tear down the wall between us. Her love slips through me, easing the regret. No matter what happens or how angry she gets with me, she loves me. Will always love me.

  Tears I rarely give in to burn my eyes.

  The door opens. I drop my hands and plaster a smile on my face. Sara, one of my babysitters and another waitress at the bar, is standing there with her winter jacket draped over her forearm. My two mini-mes are on either side of her, smiling as if seeing me is the highlight of their day.

  I bend down and open my arms. They throw themselves against me, nearly knocking me on my bottom. Oh boy, I’m going to have to tell them soon about the babies so they know to be careful with me.

  “Mommy!” they cry in unison and hug me tight.

  “Whoa.” I smile and laugh as I push to my feet. “You two are fired up tonight. What’s the deal?” Though, I’m not complaining. Their happiness is contagious.

  “Sara’s teaching us to cook,” Peyton announced.

  “We made you brownies, and we’ve been waiting for you to get home so we can have some,” Rey added.

  “On that note, I’m heading out.” Sara steps around me, ruffling the girls’ dark red hair. “See you beauties tomorrow night. Remember, we’re making pizzas for dinner.”

  “Thank you, Sara. Be safe driving.” I hope my gratitude shows. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

  With a smile on her face, Sara nods, then heads down the stairs. I turn to my girls. “That was so sweet of you, but you didn’t have to wait for me.”

  Peyton rolls her eyes. “We made them for you, Mom. We can’t eat them.”

  “Yeah!” Rey grabs my hand and tugs me toward the kitchen. “You’re going to be our customer. Come sit down.”

  My cheeks ache from the huge smile on my face. I have the best girls in the world. In the next breath, my smile dims. I wouldn’t have them without Todd.

  Three

  Rick

  Pristine white snow covers the side of the drainage ditch where Benjamin Tanner’s body was found five months ago. I stare at the untouched spot, but all I see is nature’s beauty.

  The human side of me always has a hard time visualizing a murder after the act. This spot doesn’t look any different from the miles of roadside on either side of where I’m crouched.

  My wolf sees the world differently, though. With his soul partially merged with mine, my instincts and my senses are sharper. The latter won’t help me today. The dusting of snow from last night’s squall and the passage of time have masked any clues I might’ve gleaned by coming here, but this visit isn’t a wasted effort. Being here confirms my original assessment of the crime.

  “Ben wasn’t shot here.” I push to my feet. If I could draw a horizontal line from the road to where I’m standing, it would hit my upper thighs. “He was tossed down this embankment.”

  “That’s what we’d assumed at the time too.” Nic Kagan hunkers down at the edge of the road directly above where I’m standing, putting us almost at eye-level.

  Nic’s blue eyes don’t hold the crazed edge they had the last time I saw him. Then, I’d just gotten off the phone with our agent. Our little rock band had scored a recording contract with guaranteed airtime on major radio stations across the country. I’d been smiling, excited about the possibilities I’d secured for our mismatched band, when a drunk Nic stumbled into the apartment we’d shared in California.

  Before I could share the news about our big break, Nic announced he was quitting the band and moving home. He had to take over the pack. Pick a mate. Settle down and make some babies. I’d laughed at him and told him he was making the biggest mistake of his life. Apparently, I was wrong. Dead wrong.

  Nic looks sane. Happy even, despite the grim reason for standing at the edge of his pack lands at the butt crack of dawn. It’s amazing what the right lover’s touch can do to a man.

  Before my thoughts drift to the hot waitress from last night who wanted to be the one to save me, I face Uri, who’s standing a few feet from Nic. Thoughts of a woman have no place in this moment when the memory of death surrounds me. I don’t want any mental hiccups when I have my waitress in my bed. I want sex. Nothing more. Except maybe learning her name.

  Uri isn’t looking at the scene of the crime. His intent study is on the enlarged photos Nic took with his phone the day after the murder. While they aren’t as detailed or clear as if a professional investigator would’ve snapped them, these amateur pictures are better than nothing.

  “Do you agree with my assessment, Uri?” It’s pretty obvious. To me, anyway. The only way Ben wouldn’t have ended up lying flat on his back, parallel to the road, was if someone had tossed him and he’d rolled into that position. I want Uri’s opinion, though. I’ve gone through enough partners to know what it takes to be a successful team. It starts right here, building a partnership where we both share our thoughts openly.

  “Yes.” Uri moves in front of Nic and drops to his knees. He points at some obscure spot behind me. “You see. Those trees match up with these in the picture.” Uri sets the folder of pictures at
his feet and stretches his arms to the sides, then nods. “Definitely tossed. If Ben had been shot at the edge and fallen backward, his head would’ve landed farther from the base of the ditch.”

  “Exactly. Now look here.” I tap the spot on the picture where the ground showed signs of being disturbed, then draw a line in the snow, marking the same location. “Ben’s body hit here and rolled.”

  Uri lifts the strap of the purse still slung across his body over his head. He sets the leather bag on the snow next to him and leans over the side of the embankment. His pointer finger thickens to resemble a modified talon. Using the sharpened nail that looks as if it belongs on a tiger’s paw, Uri finishes tracing the outline in the snow I’d started, replicating the shape of the path that would’ve been etched into the dirt that night.

  Once Uri reaches the bottom of the embankment, he sits back on bent legs and looks at Nic. “Was Ben’s body warm to the touch?”

  “Yes. He hadn’t been dead long when we found him.”

  I turn and look in the direction Nic said he’d approached from. “You scented him first, right?”

  “Yes. I smelled death in the air, but didn’t notice the ammonia he’d been drenched with until I got closer.” Nic’s voice lowers, taking on a harsh cadence. “Those cowards soaked Ben in it so we couldn’t scent who killed him.”

  “You stated you knew your neighboring pack had killed Ben, but you…” Uri picks up the open folder from the ground and sorts through the pictures and papers until he reaches the written statement Nic had given. “You stated that you opted not to pursue the murderer because you didn’t want to start a pack war with your neighbors.”

  Uri looks at Nic with questioning eyes. “Why were you so sure it was your neighboring pack? And why didn’t you approach the alpha in charge at the time of the murder? Most leaders would want to know if a member of their group is being suspected of murder, not hear it secondhand. From my experience, rumors start pack wars. Respectful honesty does not.”

  Nic links his hands and lets them hang loosely between his bent legs. A tic forms on Nic’s jaw. “First off, I wasn’t alpha at the time. Makes approaching other alphas a little difficult. Second, Michael Tanner, the old alpha as you described him, had an interest in my pack. He wanted his son, Derek, to challenge my dying father. Me coming home and announcing I was taking over my pack put a kink in Derek’s plan. Suffice it to say our inter-pack relations weren’t the best at the time. Besides, I also suspected Michael might’ve been the one to order Ben’s death. Or at the very least, agreed with the necessity to murder him.”

  “Necessity?” Uri drops his hand to the ground and studies Nic as if this is the real topic Uri wanted to broach. “Care to explain that?”

  Another spark of respect for my partner flares. Interviewing witnesses and suspects is a skill agents constantly hone. Everyone has a different approach. In this instant, Uri’s ignorance works. I bet it’s faked. If Uri took the time to research my past, he’d do the same for key players in the first case Shifter Affairs assigned us.

  “Ben Tanner was Michael Tanner’s second cousin twice removed, or something.” Nic snorts as if the complicated relationship isn’t worth pinpointing. “My point is, he didn’t care about Ben. My pack did. We accepted him as an honorary member. He was also a good friend to several members of my pack, including Riley.”

  Uri digs out his phone from the purse on the ground and types something on it. “Riley is your mate, correct?”

  “Yes. Riley’s my soul-bonded human mate, but she wasn’t at the time Ben died.” Nic grins as if the mere mention of his mate’s name is enough to make him happy. Probably is. With their souls connected by the ultimate mating bond, all he has to do is reach out to her to bask in her goodness. Doesn’t matter how far away she is. If Nic needs her, she’ll soothe him.

  I’m jealous. Happy for him, of course, but still jealous. I didn’t have that kind of two-way communication pathway with my late female. She was a breeding partner and held a piece of my soul. I have a hole in mine. She never offered up a piece of her soul to fill it, and I never asked.

  “Riley and Nic were involved at the time of Ben’s murder.” I supply the information that would stop me from thinking about the past and keep this interview going in the direction Uri likely wants it to go—uncovering possible suspects. Although I know many Tanner pack members, or I guess the Jager pack, as it’s called now. I haven’t been around this area in forty years. Things change. So do people. I’m proof.

  “Rick’s right.” Nic glances at me and nods. “Riley was my forbidden lover. Ben found us together the night he was killed. I was furious. Roughed him up a bit and ordered him to meet me at my dad’s place later.”

  Uri’s fingers fly over the screen, obviously recording the details. “Do you suspect Ben betrayed you by taking the knowledge of your involvement with Riley back to Michael or Derek?”

  “To them personally?” Nic shrugs. “I can’t answer that. But as far as I’m concerned, if Derek didn’t pull the trigger, one of the males loyal to his father did the deed.”

  With a finger held above the screen’s surface, Uri snags Nic’s gaze. “And you can provide a list of those males?”

  “I can’t, but Ethan Jager, the male who ousted Michael Tanner and took over his pack, can.”

  “Ethan was a kid the last time I saw him, but I know one of his mates well.” I always liked Noah. He’s one of the few people I kept in touch with after I left West Virginia. He lost a mate too. Those kinds of shared experiences turn acquaintances into friends.

  Uri nods. “What else can you tell us about the scene? Were there any other signs of blood? Anything on the road? Maybe tire marks or something?”

  “No.” Nic runs a hand over his head, pulling a few strands of his black hair from the leather thong holding it back. “Maybe. I can’t say. I was a bit distracted at the time. If there had been anything here other than what I captured in pictures, I didn’t notice it.”

  “Getting those pictures was a huge help.” I want to reassure Nic he didn’t botch the investigation. I know he’s worried about that. He told me how much he wants justice for Ben. Nic feels responsible for his death.

  “I wish I could’ve called Shifter Affairs immediately, but…”

  Nic doesn’t finish his statement. I don’t need him too. He’s not the first shifter who’s complained about not being about to get the help they need from the police. Or any branch of government. With such a limited staff, Shifter Affairs can only do so much. From what I’ve been seeing these past few months, that’s changing. Both the human government and the shifter government are funneling more money and resources into our division.

  About time too. There are some shifters who think they’re above the law. Without enough resources to prove them wrong, they’re growing bolder. Exploiting humans in addition to their own kind. Taking risks that can expose all shifters.

  “Thanks to the land you donated, Shifter Affairs now has a permanent office here. An official presence along with support from the local shifter groups is the best deterrent to crime.” Or it might show how much some of the shifters in this area have been getting away with.

  Nic stands. He pulls a phone from his rear pocket. His mouth tightens. The tendons in his neck stand out. “I hate to do this, but I need to go.”

  “Everything okay?” It’s none of my business. Nic’s an alpha, and I’m not a member of his pack. Except, I can’t help asking. For four years, we hung out. Ran from similar demons together. I’m protective of Nic.

  With a sharp nod, Nic shoves the phone into his pocket. “Yeah. A couple of our pack’s teenagers are giving their mom a hard time. They’ve decided they don’t need to listen to her because she’s female.”

  Uri straightens the pictures before closing the folder and shoving it into the purse. “No father?”

  “Yeah, but he’s a drunk. Doesn’t care that his kids are hanging out with a gang of humans. He’s just happy when they’re out of
the house.”

  Asshole should be grateful he was blessed with children and a partner. I bite back my curse. It’s not my place to comment. Besides, I don’t know what it’s like having kids underfoot. The closest I ever came to taking care of someone was the four years I spent hanging with Nic. Then again, he probably felt the same way about me.

  “If you have any other questions you need answered, call me.” Nic kicks off his sneakers, pulls off his socks, tucking them into the shoes, then ties the laces together. Fisting the joined laces, Nic takes off, running into the woods.

  I follow Nic’s retreating back with my gaze. It’s been a long time since I’ve run barefoot. I miss it. There’s something about feeling the earth under the soles of your feet that makes you feel free.

  Uri extends a hand to me. “Let’s play a little game.”

  Fighting a smile, I look from Uri’s hand to his face. “I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but I think it’s important for you to know that I prefer female lovers.”

  “That’s funny.” Uri’s stoic expression doesn’t match his words. “But I’m serious. It’s for the case.”

  “If you’re thinking about reenacting this murder, you should also know I won’t survive a bullet between my eyes.”

  Uri wiggles his fingers in come here motion. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”

  I shake my head, but I know I’ll agree. I can’t help it. Uri’s sparked my curiosity. “Sure. Why not?”

  Uri snatches my wrist before I can climb out of the ditch. He throws me over his shoulder, then hops into the bed of his extended-cab, heavy-duty truck. He lifts me with a hand planted between my shoulder blades and another under my backside.

  Realization strikes. I tense. “What—”

  Uri hurls me over his head. My body twists in the air, but I don’t flail. I wait for the impact. My side hits the slope of the embankment hard enough to rattle my teeth. My body turns slightly. I slide the rest of the way to the bottom of the ditch, landing flat on my back.