The Patient Wolf (Wicked Urban Fantasy #1) (15 page)

Chapter 24

But he wasn’t.
One of the other professors was presenting a Power Point to a politely bored audience—they hadn’t come to hear academics lecture; they had wanted the entertaining stories of Alexander Fontaine. An empty chair emphasized the star of the event was nowhere in sight.

Ana’s phone binged. “Good, Chris got my message,” she thought as she pulled it out of her pocket, then stared in horror at the words “
not delivered
” appearing in red next to the text.

Damn! The building was a well-built concrete structure. Students complained all the time about the lack of phone signals inside it, while the professors expressed their relief that their classes were uninterrupted by students’ pinging phones.

How long had Alexander been gone? And why had he left? What had the message on his phone been? Maybe Chris had tripped some sort of alarm. He’d been so sure about being able to get in, Ana hadn’t thought to question his knowledge of alarms and security.

Ana knew she had to get to the Alexander’s apartment as fast as she could. He only lived a few miles away, but as usual, her car was parked at her house. Luckily, she saw Monica standing just inside the door.

“Ana, where’s Alexander? Have you seen him? This is so weird. Why wouldn’t he be here? Where would he go? Dr. Tormisano is about to have a conniption. I swear steam is actually starting to coming out of his ears.”

“I don’t know where Alexander is,” Ana said, running her hand through her hair. “Something must have happened. I’m going to go check. Do you have your car keys on you? I need to get to his apartment as fast as I can.”

“His apartment? Why would he go to his apartment?”

“Monica! Your keys!”

“Oh, of course,” Monica said, reaching into her pocket and handing them over. “Luckily I got a great parking spot when I came back for the seminar tonight. It’s in the first lot, second row on the left.”

“Thanks,” Ana said, and took off running. It would take at least a minute, if not more, to reach Monica’s car. How far ahead of her was Alexander?

She checked her phone again as she ran. Had her text finally gotten through to Chris?

She reached Monica’s car and headed out of the parking lot, only to have to wait at the entrance as a large group of trick or treaters traipsed across the street in front of her. “Why were they out so early?” she wondered. With Daylight Savings Time still in effect it wasn’t even quite dark yet.

The street cleared and Ana drove on. As the light faded to dusk the groups of Halloween trick or treaters increased. They seemed to think that all traffic laws had been suspended for the evening, and were all apparently intent on running in front of her car. Ana banged on the wheel in frustration as she was forced to stop at yet another intersection.

The street lights winked on, but that only seemed to make it more difficult to pick out the groups of children, none of whose parents seemed to have heard of putting reflective strips on their costumes for safety.

Finally, she reached the parking lot of Alexander’s downtown condo. The building, located near the levee, was one of the few high-rise buildings in Rivelou. The ten-floor structure was considered a very elite address. Each floor held two apartments designed so each unit overlooked the river. Ana had been to the apartment once and had been impressed by its beautiful view of the river and greenery beyond.

As she got out of the car she looked around for Shannon, but didn’t see her. Wasn’t she supposed to be on lookout duty? Where could she have gone? Her sense of foreboding increased. The only reason Shannon would have left her post would be if something bad had happened.

Somehow, Alexander had learned that Chris was in his apartment. But right now Ana didn’t have time to search the parking lot for his sister. She had to get up to the Alexander’s eighth floor apartment to make sure Chris was all right.

Inside the building she banged on the elevator button, willing it to arrive quickly. She stood tapping her foot and checking her watch for at least a minute, then gave it up and took the stairs, running as fast as she could. She was in good shape—great shape, actually—she was a werewolf, after all. She wasn’t even winded when she reached the eighth floor. She opened the stairwell door and immediately noticed the door to Alexander’s apartment was ajar.

This was not good. She tried to slow her breath as she crept quietly toward the door. She could hear two voices inside and breathed a sigh of relief. One of the voices sounded like Chris.

“I know what you are, Fontaine, and it’s over. You aren’t going to kill anyone again.”

“Do you really think you can stop me? A couple of witches who are too afraid of what they are to learn how to use their powers? I don’t think so,” Ana crept closer until she could see into the living room. Alexander held a gun on Chris, who stood in front of his sister. Shannon lay unconscious on the floor. A box of watches lay on the coffee table beside her.

“I’m going to take care of you and your sister right now,” Alexander continued.

“I don’t think I’ll even bother to wait for the full moon. I’ll just shoot you both. It will be justifiable homicide according to the police, and will cement my cause with Hank Bertrand. The scenario will be obvious. With the help of your sister, you broke into my home in order to plant evidence and frame me for the murders you committed. But you triggered an alarm and I received an intruder alert on my phone.

“I rushed over here and wrestled your sister’s service revolver away from her. A shot rang out, and she was killed in the process. You, horrified and guilt stricken, grabbed the gun away from me and shot yourself.

“Ana will be upset, she’s had some feelings for you, but she is already half-convinced that you are the murderer. It won’t take me long to close the deal and win her over. Particularly not when I have the support of her entire pack behind me.

“Hank Bertrand is an old man. With his granddaughter as my mate I will easily take control of his pack.”

“I don’t think so, Alexander,” Ana said, entering the apartment. “I’m not interested in you. I never really was, and now that we have the evidence of your own words, I can make sure my grandfather knows exactly what you are.”

Alexander startled a bit when Ana spoke, but his eyes never left his prey. Chris didn’t have a chance to jump him or move in any way. “Oh dear, it looks like I may have to change the scenario. No problem. I can adjust,” Alexander said, motioning with his free hand for Ana to come farther into the room.

“You followed me from the university and found Spier and his sister threatening me. Shannon, who has resented her brother’s attraction to you, shot you. I struggled with her for the gun, and the rest is history.

“Come over by your lover, now, Ana. You know you can’t win, and death by a bullet will be less painful than if you make me take you on as a wolf.”

It had been growing dark as Ana had driven over to Alexander’s. Now, through the large glass windows that covered the riverfront side of the building, she could see the moon begin to rise.

In a few moments she would be able to change—but so would Alexander.

She took a deep breath and tried to speed the process. She felt it begin, inside herself at first, then her back began to hunch forward, her fingers turned to claws, her face was changing. She didn’t worry about her clothing. They would be torn and worthless after this, but better that than dead. A bigger worry: What would Chris think when he saw her like this?

She had only a moment to decide that that had been a stupid thought. If she didn’t change now, and more quickly than Alexander, then she, Chris, and Shannon would be dead and it wouldn’t matter what any of them thought.

And at that moment instinct took over and all coherent thought vanished. She was a predator and her prey was in front of her. Alexander, the gentleman, the consummate patient wolf, thought he had the situation more under control in his human form. He hadn’t even bothered to change his shape. As she leaped forward the gun went off, and she expected to feel its searing heat.

But no, she had taken him by surprise and his shot had missed. She leaped on Alexander and tore into him, shaking his body and she released all of her rage.

He had underestimated her. He had thought she was weak. He tried to hurt people she cared for. Now who was the weak one?

Chapter 25

Alexander’s apartment was
covered in blood, fur, and body parts. It had been a short and grisly battle. Alexander had tried to change, but it had been too late for him.

Once over, it had taken Ana several minutes to collect herself and turn back to her human form. When she had, she had been unable to look Chris in the eye. What did he think of her now? She had turned into a beast in front of him and killed someone. She couldn’t blame Chris for not immediately taking her in his arms. She was a mess; covered in blood and worse. But he hadn’t really looked at her, either. It was obvious he was feeling uncomfortable with what he had seen. Intellectually he had known what she was, but that was a far different thing from seeing the reality.

Chris hadn’t said much to her, either, except, “I don’t think we can explain this to the local police. You’d better call your grandfather to help us get this chaos cleaned up.” Then he’d become busy looking after his sister, who was just beginning to stir.

Ana had taken his suggestion and called her grandfather at once, then headed into Alexander’s bathroom to clean up herself. She washed herself in Alexander’s shower. The smell of his soap and shampoo, scents that reminded her of him, made her feel nauseous. But what choice did she have? She was covered in his blood. Her clothing was destroyed. She searched through Alexander’s closet and found a robe to cover herself, silk of course. It had been nothing but the best for Alexander. She felt extremely uncomfortable putting on his clothes; they too, carried his scent, and the scent of the woodsy cologne he favored. But it was better than walking out into the living room naked. She didn’t leave the bedroom until she heard her grandfather’s voice in the next room.

She came out slowly, saw her grandmother, and headed straight into her arms.

“I’m so glad you are safe honey. I know how you must feel, but you did what you had to do. Now come sit over in the kitchen with Shannon. She’s got a nasty headache, but she’s going to be just fine,” Ida said, shepherding Ana past the men.

In the kitchen, Shannon sat with a bag of ice on her head. “Ana, I’m so sorry,” she said, looking up when Ana walked in. “He surprised me in the parking lot. I thought I was concealed and no one would notice me by the door. I heard a small noise, turned and saw him, and the next think I knew I was waking up in here with your grandmother handing me an icepack. I let you and Chris down. You could have been killed.”

“It’s all right. He got past me at the auditorium first. Then my phone failed and my text to warn Chris didn’t go through.”

“Both of you did just fine. I don’t want to hear any more of about who should have done this or that,” said Grandma, handing Ana a glass of water. “Usually it’s the men who make the mess and the women who have to clean up. This time, we’ll let the men handle the tidying up,” she added with a smile.

Just then the doorbell rang and Ana’s brother, Dan, and two other men came in.

“Okay boys, we need to get this cleaned up. Alexander Fontaine was last seen at the auditorium. There’s no need for there to be any evidence he came back here,” Hank told them. “Chief Anderson will listen to me if I tell him there’s nothing to investigate here, but it will be a lot easier for him if his men don’t find any evidence.”

“What about his Lamborghini? It’s parked in the lot outside and it’s a hard car to miss,” Dan said.

“It goes in the river.”

“Aw, Grandpa. Are you sure?”

“It goes in the river, Daniel. It’s too fancy a car to go unnoticed in Rivelou. You get it out of here and find a nice quiet place to drive it into the water tonight, and don’t let me hear another word about it. If you want some damn fancy car like that you are just going to have to earn it.”

Hank turned away from his grandson, who knew better than to say anything more.

“Spier, you take your sister and follow me over to Ana’s house. It’s the closest. It will be more pleasant if we finish our discussion there.”

Ana wondered if her grandfather had noticed the strain between herself and Chris and was being tactful when he suggested that they drive back to her home in separate cars, or if he was just being his useful, masterful self. Did he still want to keep her away from Chris? Or would the fact that he had been so wrong in his estimation of both men make it easier for him to accept her choice of Chris. That is, of course, if Chris still wanted her after what he had seen.

Her thoughts circled around from one man in her life to another: her grandfather, Chris…and Alexander. He was dead because of her.

~~~

Back in her own home, Ana felt much more comfortable once she changed into her own clothing and her Grandmother had settled everyone comfortably in her living room with cups of coffee.

“Coffee. Humph. I think we all need a good shot of whiskey with it. What do have, Ana?” her grandfather asked, then proceeded to the kitchen without waiting for an answer to find her liquor and glasses.

“To my granddaughter,” he said, when he had poured everyone a hefty shot. “She’s proven herself a wolf at last.”

Ana groaned. The last thing she wanted was to remind Chris of herself as a wolf attacking someone. She snuck a glance at him, sitting across from her on the sofa. He winked at her as he raised his own glass. Maybe wasn’t totally disgusted by her, after all.

“Spier, we need to talk. You showed me the watches you found at Fontaine’s apartment, and Ana verifies everything you say about him is true. I’ve got no reason to think Alexander wasn’t the rogue wolf. Now I need to know, what are your plans? You and your sister know all about us. What are you going to do about it?”

Chris cleared his throat. “Well, sir. I told your granddaughter, I don’t go after anyone who isn’t causing hurting other people. You and your pack have lived here a long time. You don’t cause trouble. It’s not my job to bring trouble to you. I only hunt the rogues and the monsters.

“But there’s more. I know I’m not one of you, but I am in love with your granddaughter. And I love her daughter, too. I want to be a family. I was hoping you’d see your way clear to allow me to continue to see her.”

“Well, humph, if there is one thing I think I’ve finally learned, it’s that I can’t tell my granddaughter what to do and what not to do. It’s up to her. Not me,” said Hank.

“You don’t mind what you saw?” Ana asked hesitantly. “I know you knew I was a shapeshifter, but it’s different to see it…to see me…particularly like that. I thought you might be disgusted with me.”

“You mean you think that I’m supposed to be upset that you saved my life and my sister’s life tonight? You’re a werewolf.” He glanced at Hank. “A shapeshifter,” he amended. “And I love everything about you.”