Chasing Trouble (9 page)

B
oth the bears
watched Eloise flee the office without expression, then Axel frowned down at the phone as he swiped. Benedict watched where she'd gone, straining to hear anything, and his muscles vibrated with the effort of remaining in his chair. His lion only wanted to chase her, to comfort her, to dispose of whatever pained her.

But she needed to know who among the hyenas betrayed her. So he sat in the office even as a yowl bounced off the metal door from outside and his lion snarled in sympathy. Kaiser frowned as he sat forward. "Is she okay?"

"Yes." Benedict didn't take his eyes off the phone. He concentrated on remaining calm. "If her control slips, it's best if she's outside. Alone."

He only guessed that were the case.

Axel grunted, then offered the phone back to Benedict. "These two definitely. Didn't see the others."

Benedict sent the photo to his phone, so he'd remember it, then paused as he started to stand. Eloise reappeared in the doorway and Axel eased back a step, closer to Kaiser. Eloise wore the sunglasses and concealed most of her face with a scarf, but nothing could hide the floating cloud of hair around her head.

The grolar bear blinked. "Your, uh --"

"I know." Her voice carried an edge. "I might have damaged some of your logs. Out back. I apologize."

Kaiser raised his hands. "Damage as many as you want, darlin'. We have a new shipment coming in next week."

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, but disappeared when Benedict held out her phone. "Do you recognize them, Eloise?"

A strange high-pitched, eerie noise welled up in her chest and hurt his ears. Her fingers tightened around it until the plastic cracked, but she didn't seem to notice. She stared at it until her lips curled back in a snarl.

"I take it you know them," Axel said, sharing a look with his fellow bear.

Benedict held his breath as he pried the phone out of her hand. Her skin took on a greenish-bluish tinge, and her hair tangled itself into serpent-sized groups. Just like a damn medusa statue. "Babe. Take a breath."

Nothing. He touched her arm, let his palm rest against her until the ice under her skin thawed. She blinked, then looked back at him. "The one on the left is Lorraine, Val's daughter. The other one is Heba, Val's niece."

Then silence. Benedict didn't release her arm as he faced Kaiser and nodded. "Thank you for your assistance. We'll let you know how things ... turn out."

He wanted to get her out of there before Eloise cracked completely. Regardless of whether she hurt him or the bears or just herself, he needed to keep her moving. He didn't know what happened to gorgons when they were enraged to the point of madness, but it looked as though Eloise were one cross word away from being stone herself. Benedict nudged her toward the door, also nodding to the grim polar bear as Axel followed them out of the office.

Axel studied Eloise as she stalked to the front door, every movement jerky and stiff. Benedict put her phone away and paused at the door, another thought occurring to him as he surveyed the weight machines and boxing ring. "Would you allow others to work out here? A lion, perhaps?"

The giant bear smirked, "Sure, little buddy. We'll take it easy on you."

Benedict straightened his shoulders and scowled at the dick. "I'm a precision weapon, not a bunker-buster. I meant my brother Atticus. He needs a place to work out and fight our own kind without ending up in rank fights. You guys could set up a hell of a training facility if you wanted to."

Axel's ice blue eyes got a faraway look, and he frowned and rubbed his jaw. "Maybe. Send Atticus over. We'll beat the shit out of him for you."

"Good." Benedict linked his arm with Eloise's and led her outside. No telling what went on in her head, if Val's daughter was the one who stole the money and betrayed her. He ached to embrace her, to hold her head to his shoulder and reassure her that everything would be fine. They stood next to the car as she stared into the city, every angle in her face hard and unyielding. He took a deep breath; she needed to do it for herself, or she would never conquer the monster part of herself she so feared. So he unlocked the car. "Where are we going now?"

"City General," she said, the words barely more than a hiss.

He didn't question her as she got in the car, nor did he say anything as they drove through the city to the massive hospital only a few blocks from work. An ambulance raced past them and careened into the emergency room entrance. Benedict parked and reached for her hand. "Eloise. Come back. What are you going to do?"

Only her profile was visible as she glared at the hospital. "I have to know if Cal was part of it. If he's faking."

"Cal wouldn't --" Benedict knew the heir to the jackal pack, and he was as straightforward as a scavenger could be.

"We'll find out." She shoved the door open and strode toward the hospital.

Benedict cursed under his breath, dialing Edgar as he jogged to catch up. "We're at the hospital. It was the hyenas."

A long pause, then Edgar exhaled. "So we're going to war with the hyenas?"

"Maybe not." But neither of them believed any doubt remained. He would never let Val Szdoka take advantage of Eloise or harm her in any way, and Val Szdoka would not take kindly to the Chase pride's interference. So war it might be. "But prep Logan. If he's not in, I'm still with her."

"You'd go against Logan's orders, if he told you to stay out of it." His older brother sounded pained. Benedict barely caught the receptionist telling Eloise Cal's room number, his fancy shoes slipping on the polished linoleum. Edgar pronounced each word precisely in the static of the phone. "You would leave the pride for her."

And for the first time in his life, Benedict didn't have to think twice about disobeying an order. "Absolutely. Shit, I gotta go."

He hung up and sprinted for the elevator, almost losing his hand in the doors as they closed. Eloise, standing inside, just watched him with a blank expression under her sunglasses and her supernatural hair hovering as she disappeared from his view. He took the stairs three at time but lost her on the fourth floor, phone clenched in his hand as he searched. The crashing sounds were a dead giveaway, though. When he skidded into the doorway of the luxury room, he found Eloise standing over Cal, beating his mottled chest with her fists.

A thin man lurched up from where his chair landed across the room and advanced on her, a knife in his hand, and Benedict growled. The man paused but didn't drop the knife, shooting Benedict a hateful look over his shoulder. "Have you come to finish him off?"

Eloise grabbed Cal's shoulders, trying to rouse him. "Stop faking it. Open your eyes. Open your eyes!"

The thin man, features almost identical to Cal's, bared his teeth with a keening sound. "He won't. He won't ever open his eyes."

"Liar," she snapped, turning to confront him. She ripped off her sunglasses. "He was in on it, he and Lacey decided --"

"Don't say that bitch's name in front of me!" The thin man lunged forward, knife ready, and Benedict jumped.

Cold blasted out of Eloise in a rolling wave, knocking Benedict back a step even with a glancing blow, and his limbs tingled. But the skinny dude, Cal's relative -- he took the brunt of whatever it was she did. He froze, stuck to the floor.

And as Benedict stared at him and then Eloise as she struggled to breathe, realization dawned. A gorgon. "Medusa," he said. The numbness settled in his hands and a terrifying possibility seized his chest. "Did you just -- is he petrified?"

Her mercury eyes lifted to his, and nothing registered in them. No fear, no remorse, no familiarity. Nothing. A chill shot down his spine and the world grew dark around the edges.

E
verything
in me turned to ice when I saw the photo of Lorraine and Heba. Not just some of Val's people gone rogue, but her daughter and niece. Lorraine would never cross her mother. Ever. She only obeyed. So if Lorraine was in on the scam, so was Val.

It seemed I blinked and then we were at the hospital, in a private room, and a man I remembered as Cal's brother threatened me. The monster mojo lashed out, silenced him. Silenced some of the pain of the morning. Betrayed. Twice betrayed.

And then Benedict, eyes wide as he edged away from me, said, "Medusa," as if somehow I'd betrayed him too.

Guilt crushed me and cold surged out, wanted to making everything in the world ice and stone so nothing else would warm my heart and blood and soul. Deaden feelings so I would never be hurt again. Benedict swayed back, and for the first time I saw real fear in his eyes. Even when he teased, I knew he didn't fear me. I knew he believed me better than I really was.

I missed that.

But first there was the matter of Cal Armstrong. I turned my attention to his brother, Harrison, and willed some of the ice into my words. "Start talking."

Only vile cursing spilled forth, until I said, "This will wear off and you'll be able to walk again. I can just as easily make it permanent."

"Fuck off," he spat. "He told me that bitch wanted to elope. She said to meet at Aaron's and they'd get money and a head-start. He asked me to drive him, drop him off. So one of the pack cars wouldn't be left on Evershaw's territory." His eyes rimmed with red and he looked away. "Four hyenas showed up. They grabbed him, dragged him away before I could help him. By the time I reached him, he looked like that," and the man jerked his chin at Cal, swollen and bloodied and bruised.

The ice made it difficult to swallow. I looked at Cal, counted the slow, uneven beeps of a heart monitor. "Why isn't he healing?"

"The bitch gave him something so he couldn't." Harrison snarled a terrible angry, grieving sound. "She wanted him to suffer. They left him to die in the cold on the wolves' territory."

"Is he --"

"Braindead," he said. Bitterness rolled off him and nearly knocked me back. "We're only waiting for the extended pack to arrive so we can bury him."

I looked at Cal and some of the ice around my eyes cracked. I'd liked him. A lot. He'd been nice to me when he didn't have to be, even when no one else was around. Warmth trickled down my cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't avenge my brother." Harrison growled as he struggled to move, but his feet and legs remained stone.

"After you bury him," Benedict said, slow and careful. "Your people will go after the hyenas?"

"Wouldn't you?" The jackal gestured at his brother's broken body.

"I left the money at Aaron's," I said. The words felt heavy and slow, landing with greater weight than anything I'd ever said before. "Lacey asked me to set it up so she and Cal would have money to start their life together. The money disappeared. The hyenas took it, the same ones who murdered Cal. And now Val blames me. If I don't have the money and Lacey back to her tonight, I'll pay for both."

"My brother is dying." Harrison fixed me with a wintry look. "I don't give a fuck about your problems."

"You should," I said. "Because if Val set this up to kill me and split Cal and Lacey up, then she's probably ready for a war with the jackals and all of your people will end up right there," and I pointed at poor Cal. My voice shook as badly as my hand. "So get your shit together, Harrison. If Lacey was in on it too, I'm surprised you're not already dead. If we can't work together, at least help me."

The jackal bared his teeth at me and tensed, attention going to the open door and some of the curious nurses and passersby who peeked in. Benedict shut the door but gave me a look like maybe he wanted to be on the other side of it, too. My heart melted, sank the rest of the way to my feet. But the lawyer only said, "We should get going."

"Get out of here," Harrison said. "And if you see that bitch again, tell her I'm coming for her."

"Stay away from her." I backed away toward the door, wishing I could say good-bye to Cal without losing the rest of my composure. "If she was part of this, she's mine. If she wasn't -- anyone who touches her will end up a statue in my garden."

My lungs seized up and all the air went out of the room as I shoved past Benedict and into the hall, past the crowd on onlookers and at least one concerned nurse, and headed for the stairwell. I made it down one flight before my legs gave out and I collapsed onto the stairs, all the feeling draining out of me. Maybe if I sat there long enough, Val wouldn't look for me. Cal would wake up. Lacey would call to say it was a fucked up joke. Everything would go back to normal. Benedict would forget about me and go back his rich brothers. I could go back to staying at Ruby's bar when I got evicted from my apartment for being late with the rent again.

I covered my face and tried to breathe.

Clothing rustled behind me and the tap-tap-tap of Benedict's expensive shoes interrupted my panic, and then the warm bulk of his body eased onto the stair next to me. Something deep inside me eased, uncoiled. The tension faded. Some of the cold rage even thawed to lukewarm disgruntlement, and suddenly the world didn't feel so hopeless. I took a deep breath.

"Eloise," he said, then paused. I braced for the bad news, the condemnation for what I'd done and the lawyer-ese to tell me to stay the hell away from his family. Instead, his arm looped around my shoulders and drew me close to his side. He sighed. His cheek rested against the top of my head, and the hair-snakes moved to twine around him. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" My voice cracked and I wiped at my cheeks, horrified to find tears.

"For a lot of things." Benedict rubbed my upper arm, both of us staring at the blank wall ahead of us. "That Cal is dying, that Val probably set you up, that your friend might have been part of it."

I turned my face away so he wouldn't see, and wondered where my sunglasses were.

His deep breath jostled me a little, even more as he pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. "And I'm sorry for what I said, and for stepping back. That wasn't right, and I didn't mean it."

Of course he did. They always did. I remained rigid, unbending, even as he tried to comfort me. Waiting for the cold and ice to return so I could paralyze him and get on with my miserable, monstery existence. But nothing happened except a crack in the ice, more thawing. He still made me feel better, even when I wanted to hate him. Even when it would have been easier to run away.

Benedict knocked some of my hair out of his face and tried to rest his forehead against mine. "So here's the plan, at least from where I sit. If we can get your freaking hair under control, we get out of here before the rest of the jackals show up. We get somewhere safe to rest and eat and decide how we're going to deal with Val. Then we walk into this thing with clear minds, and we make sure she never bothers you again."

My heartbeat echoed in my ears with a dull thumping, slow and distant. We. He said 'we.' Not 'you.' I blinked, searching for a response, but when nothing came to mind, I waited.

He scowled and pushed another braid off his cheek, beginning to bat them away like an overzealous cat. "My apartment isn't far from here. There's still another ten hours or so until we meet with Val, right? Let's go get some food."

"Why are you so nice to me?" The words slipped out even though I meant to thank him and say I didn't need any more help, that I would face Val alone even if it turned me to ice forever.

Benedict pushed to his feet and descended a few stairs, until we were face-to-face. His eyes locked with mine, and not even a hint of trepidation showed in his expression. As if he weren't staring a gorgon in the eyes. "A lot of reasons, Eloise, but mostly because you deserve for people to be nice to you. Isn't that enough?" He held out a hand to help me up.

I couldn't move. "Are you really going with me to see Val?"

"No," he said, and my heart sank. Until he bent down until we were nose-to-nose, and he breathed, "I'm going with you to scare the fucking life out of Val and her daughters, so none of them bother you ever again." His lips pressed to mine and his hand slid into my hair, the kiss deepening as a searing heat burned through the cold in my heart. My hands lifted and slid into his hair, drawing him closer as his tongue teased mine and my heart jumped. Heat sparked through every inch of me but collected low in my stomach. Benedict pulled away suddenly, so suddenly I gaped at him, mouth open and hungry for his. He tapped his chin. "Although I suppose we have to
see
Val in order to --"

"Someone's got jokes," I said under my breath as I shoved to my feet and tried to knock him down the rest of the stairs. My pulse raced in my ears and dizzy stars spotted my vision. "You're not as funny as --"

He gripped my waist with sudden force and lifted me, spun me, pinned me against the rough concrete wall. I gasped, searching his face for the threat, but Benedict's gold eyes devoured me and then his mouth did as well. He nipped my chin, behind my ear, down my throat until I slid boneless against the wall and would have fallen if not for his thigh, wedged between mine.

A deep rumble started in his chest, almost a purr, as his palm slid under my sweater and up my ribs. He kissed me hard, then broke contact to study as my chest heaved. "I think I'm funny."

His fingers grazed a heated trail across my breasts, searching for my nipples under the sweater, and I made an indecent noise as I wriggled and tugged on his shirt. Benedict adjusted his leg, pressed between mine, and hiked me up higher on his thigh. "Don't you think I'm funny, Eloise?"

"F-funny," I gasped, head tilting back as he traced the waist of my jeans, played with the button and belt loops. I closed my eyes. "Funny isn't your gift."

"Oh," he said, all grumbly and deep. "Then what is my gift, babe?"

My insides clenched and I melted against him, holding on to his shoulders and using him as a furnace and a convenient wall. I wanted him naked, in a bed. With no expectations between us other than passion. Even if Val tried to kill me. I touched his face, searching those radiant golden eyes for a hint of our future. "Driving me to your apartment seems like a gift."

"That might be a place to find my gift," he said. Benedict took my earlobe in his teeth and nibbled, then muttered a curse and jerked back. I blinked, dazed with the thought of going back to his apartment and tangling our limbs together for the rest of the afternoon, and he scowled as he waved his hands around my head. "But first we're going to get your hair under control, because I want to taste every inch of your body and not have your braids get in the way."

I smiled, trying to gather the hair back, but wasn't sure how to tell him the hair wasn't acting up because of the earlier threats and anger. No, the hair only got grabby when it found someone it liked. Someone we liked. Someone I really loved.

I might be in serious trouble, but so was he.