Rogue wolf, p.26
Rogue Wolf, page 26
“You both deserve better,” Trey said firmly, tugging Samantha with him as he stood and moved closer to his friend. “Kyson, if you run now, you’ll be running for the rest of your life. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Kyson looked off into the darkness for a moment, his whole body tensing as the sirens got closer and closer, before he finally turned his attention on Trey. Samantha could see hope in his eyes warring with instincts that were almost certainly telling him to run. “What else can I do?”
“You can stay,” Trey said simply, reaching out to put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “The cops will understand that you were a victim in all of this, just like Shaylee.”
Kyson thought that over for all of a second before he shook his head and pointed at the faded lines crisscrossing his chest and stomach. “You know the cops will never believe that. They’ll take one look at me and all these scars and decide that I’m exactly the kind of psychopath who would kill all those people. I look like a monster. It will be easy to believe I am one.”
Shaylee was crying even harder now, but Trey simply squeezed Kyson’s shoulder and shook his head.
“The only people who know what happened in that basement are the four of us,” Trey said. “Once that fire in there is out, there won’t be anything left to go on but what we tell them. When the cops start asking the questions, you’re going to let Samantha and me do the talking, okay? We’re going to tell them that Louis Russo was a complete whack job who thought he could bring his dead son back to life by using parts he was getting from the bodies he stole from the morgue and the people he killed. Nadia Payne was helping him cover it up at the institute, and Rogi was the one who helped get rid of the bodies. You and Shaylee were simply his next victims, people Louis grabbed to experiment on.”
Kyson still seemed doubtful and he glanced toward the night sky that was already being lit up by all the approaching emergency vehicles. When he turned to Trey again, he looked like he was scared and he didn’t know what to do.
“Buddy, if you really want to run, I’ll help you,” Trey said, his voice low and rough. “You and Shaylee. But if you stay, I swear I can make the cops and everyone else believe what I just told you. I’m begging you to trust me, Kyson. Please. I won’t let you down.”
Kyson looked down at Samantha. “Why would you lie for us, too? You don’t even know us.”
Samantha smiled and reached out to take his hand in one of hers and Shaylee’s in the other. “I don’t know you two as well as I want to yet, but I know Trey. And for him, I’d say anything I have to. You two have gone through enough already.”
Kyson glanced questioningly at Shaylee, who was nodding urgently, her free hand latching on to his. “Okay, we’ll let you do the talking,” he said, finally agreeing. “But what happens after that? Shaylee and I can’t go back to living in the homeless camps. I couldn’t get a job before. You really think anyone is going to hire me now, looking like I do?”
“I’ll find a place where you and Shaylee can stay,” Trey said softly. “A place you and Shaylee can start over, with nobody looking at any scars. I don’t know where yet, but I’ll find a place, I promise.”
Kyson took a deep breath, then nodded. Reaching out, he pulled Trey and Samantha close, hugging them both. The move brought tears to Samantha’s eyes. Another minute and she was going to start crying like a baby.
“Okay, I’m trusting you,” Kyson said, pulling away. “But I do have a question.”
“What’s that, big guy?” Trey asked, his eyes a little misty, too.
“How are you going to explain why you’re naked?”
Trey exchanged looks with Samantha, then shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Chapter 25
“Is Connor actually having a conversation with that cat?” Samantha asked as she watched the black cat sitting atop one of the tables near the line of grills, nodding her head knowingly as the SWAT cop said something. Though whether the man was talking to the cat or the steaks and burgers he was busy flipping, she wasn’t sure.
“Kat is probably telling him exactly how she wants her burger cooked,” Trevor said casually as he munched on a chip covered in salsa.
Samantha was sure Trevor was kidding, but when several other people around the picnic table with them made sounds of agreement, she wondered if maybe talking cats weren’t as bizarre as they sounded. Truthfully, she didn’t know anymore. Discovering that werewolves, life-sucking vampires, and reanimated corpses were all real had a way of messing with a person’s fundamental understanding of the universe.
Deciding to set the topic aside for the time being, Samantha turned her attention to the rest of the people hanging out at the SWAT compound for today’s cookout. Trey and a few other members of his pack were playing volleyball with a bunch of teenagers, goofing off more than playing any serious kind of game. People stood around the sand-filled court watching the game with one eye and the handful of young children chasing after a collection of excited and very happy dogs with the other. She was still trying to learn everyone’s name and accepted that it might take a while, but they already felt like family. The moment was rendered all the more surreal by the fact that at least half the people around the compound were werewolves and many of the others were friends, family, and mates of the aforementioned werewolves. And yes, she was still getting used to the whole “mate” thing. She was the mate of a real-life werewolf!
It was hard not shaking her head. It had only been three weeks since Louis’s home had burnt to the ground, putting an end to the Butcher case and changing her life forever.
She and Trey had no problem selling their version of reality to the detective in charge of the task force. Yeah, Chief Leclair had been there too, looking more than a little dubious for some reason, but with no physical evidence to prove them wrong because the fire in the basement had burned so hot there hadn’t even been anything left of the bodies, there’d been little choice but to believe their admittedly outlandish story.
As for the vacant position of chief medical examiner, they’d already offered her the job. She’d been thrilled—even if she wasn’t looking forward to all the political stuff that came with the title—and had immediately accepted, much to Hugh’s consternation.
“How was your trip to Alaska?” Bree Harlow asked, dragging Samantha’s attention back to the other people around her at the table. “Diego mentioned it was the second time you and Trey went up there in three weeks.”
Samantha smiled. She and Bree had struck up an easy friendship the moment they’d met. Bree was almost as new to the Pack as Samantha, meeting her mate, Diego, earlier in the summer. While it was incredibly easy to talk to Trey about anything, it was still nice to connect with someone experiencing the same stuff she was. It helped when Bree admitted she’d fallen for her werewolf in less than a week and now couldn’t imagine living without him. It made her whirlwind romance with Trey seem more normal, if that was possible.
“It was wonderful,” Samantha said, thinking of the long weekend she and Trey had spent together up there. “The weather in Homer is perfect this time of the year. Of course, that only made coming back to our hundred-degree heat here in Dallas that much worse.”
“Are your friends getting settled in okay?” Bree asked, sipping her iced tea.
Everyone in the extended Pack was at least somewhat aware of the situation with Kyson and Shaylee, though she doubted Trey had told any of them all the details. It had taken a few days for Samantha and Trey to come up with a new place for Kyson and Shaylee to live where they could get a completely new start. When the idea of letting them use her grandparents’ place up in Homer had first popped into her head, Samantha had almost dismissed it immediately. Who the hell would want to run away and hide in the middle nowhere in a place you had to wear long sleeves year-round?
But it turned out that the answer was obvious. Kyson most definitely would. And Shaylee would go anywhere the man she loved would be happy.
It hadn’t been all that difficult to get the two of them up there and settled into the big home. The hard part had been convincing the army and the VA that Kyson wasn’t dead. But after getting through the military bureaucracy—there was even a damn form for resurrecting a person erroneously deemed deceased—the rest had been a piece of cake. True, her parents weren’t thrilled when they learned she’d given the place to someone they thought of as a stranger, but she wasn’t too concerned about that.
“They’re doing well,” Samantha said, looking over at the volleyball court to see Trey lifting up a little boy so he could whack the ball over the net. The endearing image made her suddenly wonder what their own kids would look like. That out-of-nowhere thought had her suspecting falling in love wasn’t the only thing that happened fast when it came to werewolves.
“Shaylee already has my grandparents’ house looking more like a home than it has in forever,” Samantha added. “And Kyson is getting more involved in the running of the wilderness tourism business every day. I think being in a place like Homer suits him. And Trey even found a VA-certified PTSD therapist in Anchorage who makes house calls. Kyson has seen her twice already. He doesn’t like talking about everything that happened to him, but he’s doing it. That’s all that matters.”
She and Bree continued to talk about what life in Homer would be like for Kyson and Shaylee, with some of the other people around the table occasionally asking questions. Samantha couldn’t help noticing that none of those questions or comments came from Trevor or any of the other werewolves. In fact, it seemed like none of them were even paying attention to the conversation. They all seemed lost in their own thoughts, expressions pensive.
It wasn’t difficult for Samantha to guess why they were so quiet. She and Trey had spent hours talking about the subject last night. Zane and his mate, Alyssa, had gone down to San Antonio to investigate some kind of ritualistic murders about three weeks ago and hadn’t been heard from since. Samantha still didn’t know a thing about this STAT organization that Alyssa worked for, but according to Trey, they dealt with things that went bump in the night. It was shocking to believe anything could have gone wrong, considering Zane was a werewolf, but it was obvious the SWAT team was worried. Despite everyone having fun at the cookout today, Samantha could feel the tension in the air.
Samantha was talking to Bree about her teenage son—who was also a werewolf—when Connor announced the food was ready. The volleyball was on the ground two seconds later as everyone made a beeline for the grills. She got up from the table with Bree and the others, ready to get in the line with Trey, when her phone rang. She considered ignoring it, but then realized it could be the office, which was working understaffed at the moment, and pulled out her phone to at least check and see who it was. She frowned when she saw her sister’s name on the screen.
The urge to stuff the phone back in the pocket of her shorts was hard to resist, especially since she had very little doubt as to why Loralei was calling. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Trey glancing her way with concern clear on his face. No doubt he was picking up on the tension in her muscles, her slightly elevated heart rate, and the way her scent changed when she was anxious. She really wasn’t clear on everything he could do in that regard. It would probably take a while to pick up on everything.
She gave him a small smile and a nod, then thumbed the green button on her phone. “Loralei, hey.”
“Hey,” her sister said. “How was your trip to Homer? Did your friends get moved into Grandma and Grandpa’s house?”
“They did,” Samantha said. “It’s nice to see the place being used as a home again.”
“Yeah, it is. I think Grandma and Grandpa would approve, by the way.”
“Me, too.”
Samantha glanced at Trey to see him loading two plates full of food over by the grill. Even as Trey fixed a burger for her, he kept looking her way every few seconds. She smiled again and waved at him.
“Well, while you and Trey were up in Homer, I checked on the progress of those samples you gave me a few weeks ago, figuring you’d be eager for more info on them, but they weren’t there,” Loralei said. “The results I’d already collected are gone, too.”
Samantha didn’t say anything. She’d wanted to slip into her sister’s lab the day after they’d all escaped from Louis’s demented lab, but she and Trey had been too busy getting ready for the first trip up to Homer with Kyson and Shaylee, so they’d waited until they’d gotten back. It turned out that Trey was exceptionally good at breaking and entering. Knowing all of her sister’s computer passwords had helped, too. Within minutes, they’d taken everything Loralei had come up with.
She and Trey had quickly flipped through the results detailing what kind of prehistoric wolf DNA was blended so perfectly with his and the parts of his DNA strand that were no longer human at all. It was exactly the kind of stuff Louis would have drooled over.
It was also the kind of stuff she’d spent two years looking for.
And they’d burned it all. Every single piece of it.
“Don’t worry about the samples,” she told her sister. “Don’t worry about any of it. In fact, I want you to act like it never happened, okay?”
Loralei was quiet for a moment. “You broke into the lab and took everything, didn’t you?” she asked incredulously. “You know how crazy that is, right? What you’ve uncovered could change the world. Hell, it could make you famous.”
“You’re right. It would make me famous. Probably rich, too,” Samantha replied. “But it would also destroy the life of someone I love. So I’m begging you, Loralei, let this go. For me, please let it go.”
There was more silence, then a heavy sigh. “Okay, I’ll let it go.”
Samantha released the breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “Thanks. You don’t know how much I appreciate this.”
“You’re my sister. You know I’d do anything for you,” Loralei said. “But are you ever going to explain to me what this is all about?”
“Someday,” Samantha said. But only if Trey felt comfortable sharing his secret with her sister.
Telling Loralei she’d call her later, Samantha put her phone away, then headed over to join Trey at the table, at the space he’d saved for her in front of an overloaded plate of food. There was no way she could eat that much. Of course, she’d already learned that Trey was always up for eating anything she couldn’t.
“Everything okay?” Trey asked as she sat down beside him.
She smiled and nodded, leaning her shoulder into his, picking up her cheeseburger and taking a bite. It was juicy and perfectly cooked. Connor definitely knew his way around a grill.
She was so relaxed and comfortable among the Pack that she didn’t realize someone had asked her a question until she glanced up from her plate to see everyone at the table regarding her expectantly.
Oh crap. What did I miss?
“What?” she asked to the table in general, not even sure who’d been talking to her.
Beside her, Trey looked a little panicked. Hopefully, it wasn’t anything embarrassing.
On the other side of the table, Hale gave her a knowing smile, like he thought she was trying to come up with a way to delay answering. “I asked what you thought about being The One? You never talk about it.”
From the corner of her eye, she caught Trey making a shushing motion in Hale’s direction with his hand.
“The one what?” she asked.
The whole table went silent. Everyone at the two tables closest to theirs went just as quiet. It was like Samantha had cast aspersions on the Super Bowl lineage of the Dallas Cowboys. That was when she realized they weren’t staring at her but Trey. And some of his pack mates—Trevor and Hale in particular—looked kind of pissed.
“You haven’t told her?” Connor demanded, his voice flat but his expression making it clear he was stunned. “Are you frigging kidding me? You’ve had weeks!”
Samantha looked from Trey to Connor and back again. Damn, she hated being on the outside of anything that everyone else obviously knew about.
“Tell me what?” she asked.
No one answered. Not even Trey. She was one the verge of getting a little annoyed when Trey stood up so quickly that he practically flipped over the bench she and everyone else was sitting on.
“We need to talk,” he said, his voice calm but edged with tension. Reaching down, he took her hand, urging her up from the bench. “Let’s take a walk.”
She fell into step beside him as he walked toward the far end of the compound. It was obvious that he wanted a little privacy and that scared the hell out her. Whatever he had to say must be bad, especially if he hadn’t wanted to tell her.
Samantha was practically hyperventilating by the time they reached the far end of the compound’s obstacle course, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. Everything was so good between them. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything messing that up.
“We’re soul mates,” he said softly, turning to look at her. “Being The One means that you’re the one person in the world who I’m supposed to be with. The only one who can ever accept me for what I am.”
Soul mates? Things like soul mates belonged in romance books and fairy tales. But then she remembered there weren’t supposed to be werewolves, vampires, and monsters. Look how wrong she’d been about that.
Her head suddenly started to spin. After everything she’d learned over the past few weeks, hearing they were soul mates still threw her for loop. She couldn’t help it. The implications were…scary.
“What are you saying?” she asked, all too aware that every werewolf at the compound could listen in on their conversation if they wanted to. “That the two of us were destined to be together from the day we met? That we didn’t even have a say in the matter? That everything we’ve done—falling in love with each other and moving in together—wasn’t our choice?”
