Alpha Me Not (33 page)

“Not for me, I’m afraid. I have a board meeting in an hour.” Sam rubbed his jaw.

“There’s more?” Joe studied Sam’s puffy eyes, the exhaustion evident in his slumped posture.

“Eric died early this morning. Probably a blessing in disguise as the doctors measured minimal brain activity. The other boy in the ditch was in the same foster home as Eric, tentatively identified as one Pedro Camacho. Far as we can make out, Gemma used her son, Jeffrey, to recruit boys for her. Jeffrey taught at an elementary school on the outskirts of Dreaming Ground.”

“Recruit for her?” Joe frowned, not ready to extrapolate to what Sam suggested. “As in for pedophilia?”

“As far as we can tell right now, no. Gemma got off on torturing young males.”

Joe’s jaw sagged. Never in an eternity would he have suspected mild, matronly Gemma Arnold for such a role. He replayed all they’d learned to date. “Her first kill was Swampy, her second her husband. She was the one who built the hidden basement in Terri’s house.”

“We suspect so. We have Jeffrey in custody, but Gemma’s missing. Jeffrey’s talking, but he’s incoherent at best.”

“He didn’t take part in any of their activities?” What hell Jeffrey must’ve endured. No wonder the man barely talked, he’d probably been traumatized as a toddler.

“He’s borderline insane, according to the preliminary psych report. Jeffrey did what he was told to do on pain of death.” Sam sipped his coffee. “We’re presuming Jeffrey recruited both Eric and Pedro.”

“Why’d they dump Eric alive?”

“We think Jeffrey panicked. Apparently Ivan mentioned knowing about the vats in Hallie Preserve. Jeffrey cleared out the bodies that were left and dumped them in the ravine, counting on the spring rains to wash them into the gulf eventually.”

“So Jeffrey’s sane enough to be afraid of being caught and to plan the removal and eradication of the corpses. And he obviously knew what he was doing was wrong.” One way or another Joe intended Jeffrey would be incarcerated, forever.

“Don’t think that’s going to wash. There’s no way this guy’s lucid. Jeffrey has been alternately babbling and banging his head on walls. He’s in restraints at a local mental institution.” Sam leaned his head back on the chocolate leather and sighed audibly. “The fallout from all of this is going to end more than Weber’s career. I can see no way Vinters can avoid retiring early.”

Joe whistled. “The good ole boy network’s going to take a hit and then some. Back to Jeffrey—he was the one who burned Terri’s house?”

“On orders. After Gemma killed her husband, she threatened to go to the cops and tell them all about Hallelujah Mountain and the cave if Carmine didn’t fully support her and Jeffrey financially. Carmine, by the way, is a wealthy man. Carmine capitulated but began spying on Gemma. He found out about
her
basement activities and cut her off. That’s when she set about locking down the basement and then sold the house. They were at a classic Mexican standoff.”

“Hard to believe this all happened in such a normal-looking neighborhood,” Joe mused.

“I know what you mean. Gemma didn’t take things sitting down. She had a power-of-attorney document done up and tricked Carmine into signing it. That’s when she moved back in with him and systematically set about taking over his finances.”

“I don’t get it. Why burn down the house three years later?”

“Patience, grasshopper, patience. She started the rumors that Carmine had Alzheimer’s and even tried to get his doctor, who’s located in downtown Hallie, to declare him incompetent. The doctor insisted on examining Carmine and even went so far as to schedule a house call. When Gemma found out about that, she pushed Carmine down the stairs and he broke his hip.”

“Jesus. I guess she intended to get him back for all he’d done to her.”

“Jeffrey panicked and dialed 911. Carmine ended up in the hospital. Gemma watched him like a hawk. She even slept in his hospital room. The nurses were amazed at her devotion.”

“Fuck. Susie said she had to go to the hospital to get the key from Gemma.”

“Carmine was released but had to be under a nurse’s care for the first twenty-four hours. Gemma couldn’t watch Carmine
all
the time, not with a nurse in the house. Carmine told the nurse his daughter had bodies buried in the basement of her old house the Sunday after Susie moved in.”

“We were there. Saw the nurse quarreling with Gemma.”

“According to Jeffrey, Gemma then ordered him to burn down the house and even detailed how he was to do it. Switch out the stove’s full gas tank for a near-empty one.”

“So the new tenant would have to switch it out and the fire could be labeled accidental.” Joe
knew
he had done the gas tank change for Terri before his last mission.

“Exactly. If the accelerants and explosives had gone off first, then arson would’ve been hard to prove. They didn’t even have to break into Terri’s house. Gemma had a copy of the key made when Terri gave it to her to give to Susie.”

“Susie swears someone had been in and out of the house the day she moved in. Said she kept finding her purse in the wrong place. Wonder if Jeffrey didn’t inherit his parent’s sexual proclivities and was stalking her?”

Sam shrugged. “Who knows? Oh, one other disturbing and disgusting piece of news. Swampy and Carmine were avid hunters. Apparently they played games with their Hallelujah victims. They pretended to free them in what they called no man’s land—the bridge over Mudflat that’s the border between the two states. Then they hunted them. Carmine on the Florida side, Swampy on the Alabama. Kept a book tallying the kills for each side.”

No wonder the bridge had creeped out Susie. “Jesus. And I never picked up on any of this shit. Right below my nose.”

“You’ve been out of the country for most of the last seven years. On a different note, I understand Coach Ellison committed suicide last night.” Sam quirked a scraggy brow.

“When did the news break?” Joe hadn’t expected to hear anything until later in the day.

“Ellison didn’t show for dawn practice. One of the assistant coaches phoned his home. His wife discovered the body. A videotape was leaked on the Internet early this morning.”

Joe rolled a shoulder.

“Don’t give me that. I find it incredibly coincidental that not two days ago, Kieran had me analyze blood on a clump of pine needles. Strangely enough, Ellison’s blood type matched that on the pines—his medicals are on file at the university. On a hunch I asked the lab to do DNA tests on both.” Sam drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. “Imagine my surprise when they matched.”

Joe shrugged. “I’ll pass on the news to Kieran.”

Sam set his cup on the coffee table and stood. “I destroyed all evidence of the matching DNA. The suicide will stand, and there will be no investigation.”

“Thanks for taking the time to come by, Sam. I appreciate the heads-up.” Joe grabbed Sam’s mug and rose. “By the way, it looks like Susie and I will be tying the knot soon.”

Sam slapped him on the back. “About time you settled down. Heard you resigned.”

“It was time. Tate too.”

On the way to the front Joe told Sam about Barb’s news. The man was thrilled for the couple.

Joe shut the door and stared at the burnished panels for a few seconds. It was time to come clean with Susie about his last secret, his dyslexia. But first he had a punishment to administer. Joe grinned and headed to the kitchen, his mind filled with images of Susie’s tempting backside bent over his knees.

She stood in front of the counter, her long hair a tousled, sexy mess spilling around her shoulders and hanging down to her waist. Her mouth curved into a crooked smile, she knuckled one eye and pushed a hank of hair back from her cheek. “You weren’t there when I woke up.”

“Sam O’Reilly came by.” Joe drank in his mate. How he loved her like this, all soft and cuddly, her defenses down.

Susie opened her eyes wide and closed the distance between them, her forehead puckering. “Is something wrong?”

He covered her hands resting on his chest. “Nope. Everything’s okay, actually. Back to bed for you, gypsy woman.”

“But I just got up,” she protested.

Not giving her a chance to object, Joe swooped her off her feet, spun around, and ambled down the hallway. “It seems to me that we have unfinished business to take care of, and the place to do that is in bed.”

Shooting him a narrow-eyed glance, she tilted her head, and one brow lifted. “Unfinished business?”

“You made the penalty box again last night.” Joe halted in front of the bed. He fisted his hands in her silky tresses and tugged, forcing her chin up and back. “No escaping the punishment this time, Susan Elizabeth White.”

With that he chucked her into the middle of the mattress and grinned when she bounced a couple of times. Not a trace of alarm showed in her features. Indeed her dark eyes gleamed, and her lips twitched as if she tried to suppress a grin.

“Another blowjob? I’m anxious to improve my grade.” She purred the sentence like a she cat that had cornered a tasty meal.

Joe shook his head and tsked. “Maybe later. This time, mate,
I
set the punishment.”

A part of him wanted to show off, so he used his wolf speed to grab the curtain pulls, bind her wrists at her navel, and get her in position over his thighs before she even managed a squeal.

“What’re you doing, Joe Huroq? Stop it. You can’t mean to…”

How he loved thongs. His cock drummed against the side of her waist, and the visual near did him in. Translucent strands of precum dampened her golden flesh as his erection twitched in anticipation and made wet smacking sounds against her skin. Unable to resist, he kissed first one, then the other firm, high mound.

A whiff of her growing arousal swamped his lungs, and the headiness of the sweet musk had him lust intoxicated. He bit one cheek right above her ass crack, not bothering to moderate the sharp nip.

A shudder rang through her. She grabbed his shin, her fingernails scoring his flesh.

He soothed the injured spot with his tongue and suckled his way to the other side, pausing to nuzzle the thin strip of lace separating the twin mounds.

She gasped, and her hold on him tightened to viselike proportions.

Joe blew a soft breath over the dampness, and she ceased inhaling. He stifled a chortle. Nothing,
nothing
more rewarding than Susie’s delicious anticipation. The way her muscles contracted, the way she kept her head rigid and turned slightly, the profile view of her nostrils flaring as her breasts pressed into his legs. Damn but she tested his control.

Knowing any hint, any warning, any more foreplay would serve to strengthen the Little Miss Prim in her, Joe raised his head and hand and delivered two hard spanks in quick succession. His dick engorged to a pain-pleasure peak the second he glimpsed the faint outline of his palm on each pinkened ass cheek.

She squirmed and growled something he couldn’t make out, then swung about, and sank her teeth into his thigh. The bite spiked his control into a tight tailspin. Before he lost it completely, Joe gritted his teeth, ignored the sweat dripping from one brow, and alternated openhanded smacks between each reddening mound. The fragrance of her desire blossomed with each slap.

“Joe.” She howled his name, arched her bottom, squeezed her legs together, and chomped down on his outer thigh.

His famed discipline splintered into shards.

After rolling her onto the bed, Joe hooked his arms under her knees and drove into her pussy right as her climax peaked. Spots danced before his eyes. Her walls snatched at his cock, vacuuming and releasing, and his balls jerked up tight.

Blood and heat rushed to his groin. He jammed his toes into the mattress, threw his head back, and roared, “Mine.”

His mind devoid of thought, of any rationale, Joe hammered into her scorching sheath. The orgasm thundered through him. Sperm erupted from his slit in fiery spurts. He closed his eyes and savored the ecstasy flooding his pores, his veins, his bankrupt gray matter.

Susie wriggled a little, and contriteness yanked him out of his lust-stupor satiation. In less than a second he flipped them over, fitted his hand under her jaw, and checked her features.

Her drunken half smile gave him some reassurance. “Okay?”

“Hmmm.” She peered at him through barely open eyelids. “Need a nap.”

That startled a chuckle out of him. So far, Susie had woken up like a dynamo, ready and raring to get into action. That he’d lulled her back into half sleepiness prompted a contented sigh. He removed the curtain pulls, gathered her closer and gently laid his hands on her bottom. When she didn’t whimper or protest but nestled her cheek on his damp chest, he relaxed.

They dozed for a bit.

Muted day noises penetrated his half slumber. A car horn, yammering birds, the drone of a lawn mower, and the odd cheer. A junior soccer game must be in play, Joe guessed.

Susie’s stomach rumbled.

Grinning, he chucked her chin.

“Whaat?” She opened one eye.

“You’re hungry.”

“Too lazy to move.”

“Make you a deal. You order in some grub, and I’ll fill you in on what Sam had to say.” Joe knew curiosity would jerk Susie wide awake.

She reared onto her forearms and frowned at him. “Nothing’s wrong, is it?”

“Nope. A ton of puzzle pieces fitting into place. You need a cold bath?”

The furrows on her brow deepened. “Whaaat?”

“Your backside sore?” He fought to keep his lips from twitching.

She huffed, tilted her head back, and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds while color rioted over her throat and face. “Okay. Let’s get this over and done with. I admit. The spanking turned me on. That, however, does not mean it’s something I want on the regular menu. Maybe as a special once in a while.”

“Gotcha. While there’s nothing I’d love more than a shower with you, let’s do the yours and mine thing and meet in the kitchen in five. Work for you?” The rosy hue staining her cheeks abated a tad.

“I’m going to order food first. I’m starving.” Her movements a tad clumsy, she levered off him. Her tight pussy finally released his still-rigid cock with a pop-sucking noise. Joe grinned when Susie surreptitiously checked out his erection and her mouth settled into an O.