Blue Moon: Blood Moon Trilogy #3 (22 page)

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. “Most are.”

Matthews paced in front of me like we were in an interrogation room. “Bad luck seems to follow you everywhere, doesn’t it, Miss Leighton. First your brother is murdered in an alley while out with your boyfriend, then Mr. Samuels is murdered—and, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t your current boyfriend in town both times?” I didn’t like the implications that were lying just below the surface of his interrogation technique. “And now this.”

“I wasn’t a suspect in Bobby or David’s murders. How dare you even impl—”

Matthews held up a hand, interrupting me. “Please, Miss Leighton. Let’s calm down.”

“Calm down?” I said, standing up and placing my hands on the tabletop and leaning over it to stare at this weaselly-looking man. “You’re implying I’m capable of murdering my brother, my lover, and now two people who were kind enough to open their door to me in my time of need.”

“Miss Leighton, it’s my job to make sure I cover all the bases.”

“Well, you’re sniffing around the wrong damn field,” I informed him. “Meanwhile, the bastards responsible just hit a grand slam.” His eyebrows pulled together, likely at my abuse of his cliché baseball analogy.

There was a knock on the doorframe, causing both of us to look toward it. It was one of the detectives.

“We’ve got the bodies loaded, and CSU is still working the scene.”

Matthews looked at me. “I believe you’re free to go, Miss Leighton. Obviously you can’t stay here…”

I nodded. “Yeah. We can stay down the road at our friends’ house. You have all of our contact information in case you need to accuse any of us of more crimes we didn’t commit,” I snapped, standing up so quickly, the legs of my chair scraped the floor. “Will one of your officers be escorting each of us to our rooms to watch as we pack a few things to take with us? I’d hate for you to think we’re removing evidence from a crime scene when it’s really just a couple changes of clothes.”

With a nod toward his officer, Matthews released me. The officer followed me out to the stairs where I informed the Pack that we’d been given permission to leave the house after grabbing a few items.

Nick and I headed to our room first with the officer. The cop stood in the doorway watching as Nick grabbed a duffle bag from the closet and started stuffing his clothes in it haphazardly. I had just grabbed a few pairs of jeans and several shirts from the closet and was about to set them on the bench at the foot of our bed when I noticed an envelope on it.

My name was scrawled on the white piece of paper, and I recognized the writing as Miranda’s immediately. With everything that had happened this afternoon and evening, I’d completely forgotten about the blood draw we’d done earlier. Something told me this envelope held the results.

Butterflies flapped wildly in my belly, making me feel nauseous. I couldn’t handle the results right now. I wasn’t ready. I would open it once things died down.

When I heard Nick step up behind me, I shoved the envelope in my front pocket and turned around to face him, a smile plastered on my face.

“You have everything?” he asked, running his hands up and down my arms. He sensed something was up, eyebrows pulling together. “You okay?”

“Fine,” I replied. “I just need a few more things from my dresser.” I moved around him and grabbed a handful of bras and underwear, adding them to my pile before I placed them in the messy duffle bag in a way that made the bag seem less untidy.

Once all of our things were packed, we headed back down to the foyer, and the rest of the Pack followed the officer, one or two individuals at a time. It took about thirty minutes, but soon we were on our way over to Vince and Layla’s, with a police escort to make sure that was where we were headed.

“What about the dossiers?” I asked in Nick’s truck.

“I’ll head back for them in a bit. I’ll shift. No one will think twice about a wolf sniffing around out here.”

Worried, I looked at him. “I’ll go with you,” I volunteered.

Nick shook his head. “No. I’ll take someone else. We can’t risk losing another Alpha.”

There was that stomach roll again.

“Okay.”

When we arrived at Vince and Layla’s house, it was late, closing in on one in the morning. Everybody was exhausted and emotionally drained. Nick and I helped Jackson up to the bedroom my parents had used only a couple of weeks ago. Their scent still hung in the air, my mother’s perfume wafting up from the pillow as Jackson leaned back against it.

“You okay?” I asked him.

Nick looked between the two of us and then walked toward where I stood in the doorway. “I’ll give the two of you a moment to talk. I’m going to go and grab the dossiers from the manor,” he said, kissing the side of my head before disappearing back downstairs.

As expected, Jackson’s recovery was slow-moving, but definitely quicker than my own. He had regained some of his color, but his skin was still a bit ashen, and his strength waxed and waned. Through it all, he’d maintained a firm grasp on his trademark stoicism. 

“I’m fine, Brooke,” he assured me for the hundredth time. “There wasn’t much silver in my system to begin with, and the wounds from the collar are already healing.” His eyes travelled over my own neck. “Not exactly the most comfortable contraption in the world, is it?” he joked.

I laughed—barely. “Effective, though.”

“Which, I suppose, is all that matters.” He paused, staring at me as I stood in the doorway. “How are
you
doing, though?”

“Me? I’m fine.”

Jackson wasn’t buying it. “I don’t just mean after the escape.” Another awkward silence fell between us before he clarified his meaning. “You know the truth now…about the night you were bitten?”

It was something I still hadn’t really acknowledged since my return. Sure, Nick and I had touched on the subject, and I told him I was okay with it, but there were times I still struggled. While I understood how it happened and that it was an accident on Nick’s behalf, having been tricked and manipulated by Bobby and Gianna, it still upset me that Nick had allowed Jackson to take the heat for it all this time.

Jackson sighed, patting the mattress for me to have a seat. “He finally told you.” My silence was all the confirmation he needed. “You should know, I wanted him to tell you sooner.”

Jackson looked genuinely upset about all of this, and that made me even angrier.

“He didn’t tell me at all,” I stated, thrusting myself back to the night I found out.

Accepting Jackson’s silent invite, I sat on the bed next to his knee, pulling my right leg up and tucking my ankle under my left thigh. “I saw the scar from the bullet and put it all together. Why did you admit to it?”

Jackson shrugged. “I didn’t, really,” he said, sitting up a little straighter in bed. “You asked why I did it, and I never owned up to it. I said that what happened to you was an accident and that when we were in that form it was harder for us to control our impulses. It was you who continued to assume.”

“But you never corrected me.”

“Because you were still going through some major changes. I didn’t want to screw up the one constant you had. It was obvious you needed Nick.”

My jaw clenched. “What I
needed
was for people to be honest with me. Lying gets people nowhere.”

“True, but how do you think you’d have reacted if he’d have been straight with you from the beginning?” he asked. “Your emotions would have gotten the best of you. I was happy to play the scapegoat if it kept you from losing control.”

I smiled, hearing about his concern for my well-being. “You know, I think you’re highly misunderstood.”

“How so?” he asked.

“Ever since I joined this pack, you’ve been nothing but compassionate. The way you opened up about your own loss… It really helped me relate to someone, and that was something I desperately needed after David’s death.”

Jackson rested a hand over mine. “Seeing you struggle brought back so many memories of the night I lost my wife, and I only wanted to help.”

“You did,” I assured him.

The right side of his mouth turned up into a smirk. “I’m glad, but let’s not mention any of this to anyone else… I still have a reputation to uphold.”

Laughing, I nodded. “Of course. Wouldn’t want people thinking you actually give a shit.”

“Exactly.” Exhaustion quickly fell over Jackson, his eyes unable to hold mine any longer as he slumped back against the headboard, so I stood up. “You should rest. You’ll heal faster.”

I had just started to pull the door closed to give him his privacy when he spoke again. “You’ll make a fine Alpha, Brooke.”

Humbled, I gave him a curt nod. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Now rest.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he teased.

As I made my way toward the stairs, I heard Vince’s soothing voice as he tried to calm a distraught Layla. The deaths of our leaders had affected each and every one of us, and I wasn’t sure how we would be able to be strong in the face of such tragedy. This was what Bobby wanted: to shake us up enough that we’d be vulnerable. It was up to me, as the Pack’s new Alpha, to find a way to use our loss and our grief in a way that would benefit us in this war. We needed it to unite us.

Downstairs, I heard the crackle of a fire filtering through the house from the living room. The smell of the burning wood was oddly comforting, and I entered the dark room to find Colby and Zach stretched out on the couch. The orange reflection of the flames flickered across her face as she rested her cheek on his chest, her eyes closed, ribcage expanding heavily with sleep. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears, and her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen from crying herself to sleep. Zach’s hand moved gently over her head and through her long hair, his eyes closed as he tried to succumb to sleep as well.

Nick was by the fireplace, poking the burning logs before placing another one on the pyre. I stood and watched as the flames danced, casting shadows over Nick’s face and arms. Happy with the log placement, he replaced the poker on the stand and brushed his hands on his jeans before standing up and noticing me.

“Hey,” he said softly, acknowledging the two sleeping bodies on the couch.

“Hey, back,” I replied in a tight voice; my own exhaustion was now catching up with me. “Where are the other two?”

“Corbin was feeling antsy. Roxanne offered to go out for a run with him.”

The idea of Corbin out there worried me. His parents had just been found murdered, and we knew exactly who was responsible. I feared he might try to seek vengeance or rescue his sister again before we were ready for that.

“Roxanne knows not to let him do anything stupid. She understands the risks, and she wouldn’t do something you wouldn’t agree with,” Nick interjected before I could take off after them.

Feeling slight relief, I let my gaze drift until it landed on the briefcase Nick had retrieved. “You got it.”

Nick nodded, heading to the oversized armchair and grabbing one of the thick comforters that were piled on it. He opened it and spread it on the floor before doing the same with another, and another. When he was done stacking them, he added two pillows and then sat on the blankets, looking up at me expectantly.

“This place wasn’t really built with the intention of housing us all. Vince and Layla don’t have quite the space the manor does. I figured we could take the floor and offer up the rooms to the others.” He glanced at the couch and shrugged. “We weren’t meant to have company, but Colby was beside herself.”

“It’s fine,” I told him, joining him on our makeshift bed. “This is good. I’ve slept in worse conditions.” I cringed, remembering the cold stone floors of my prison and wondering if that was where Cordelia was right now. Should we have gone after her as soon as we left the manor? Would she be okay? If Bobby was still holding out for my cooperation, he wouldn’t hurt her, would he? Was this what he meant when he said I’d come back to him?

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here, Nick,” I admitted weakly, voice wavering and tears threatening to fall. “I don’t think I can lead us to victory.” Despite sitting so close to the warm fire, I felt a chill sink deep into my bones, and I shivered.

Nick scooted closer, taking my hands in his. “Baby, you’re going to be fine. We’re all here to help in whatever way you need. What happened tonight was…unexpected and awful, but tragedy has this way of uniting the Pack against a common enemy. We will find your brother, and we will make him pay for what he’s done.”