Forbidden (26 page)

She opened the yearbook from the year he was in sixth grade and flipped pages. Right there, in black-and-white, was a photograph of a Sammy Havens. In his own
class
! “But that's
my
graduating class. How could I not remember someone in my own class? It was only a dozen people.”

Claire lifted her hands, punctuating her point. “Exactly. Why don't people remember? When I asked Dani at the family dinner how the search was going, she didn't remember they were missing. I've only been here a few days, Alek! She was in a panic about searching for them when we were driving here.”

“Nobody left, nobody died.” But the more he stared at the picture of the smiling boy, the more it seemed familiar. Memories started sputtering back in snippets of images. Those eyes, peering intently over a handful of cards. “We played Pokemon in the schoolyard. His grandparents always gave him specialty cards from the city for Christmas. He was unbeatable.”

Her brows raised. “So you
do
remember him?”

Alek fought to remember more, but it was gone. “That's all I remember. Pokemon. And I could be wrong.”

She opened the seventh grade book. No Sammy Havens was pictured. Nor in eighth grade, but he was in fifth. Alek grabbed another file from the stack. Carol Nickerson. He didn't know any Nickersons. This time, the picture disappeared after fourth grade. Another file, another name. No photo after seventh grade. He was in school with all of them, but remembered none of them. “What the hell is going on?!” He slammed shut the yearbook of his senior year. All the faces, smiling, happy. But not
all
of the faces.

“I don't know,” she said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But I think there's evidence I need to get back to my pack leaders. Someone needs to look into this further. Someone
not
from this town.”

He agreed. He reached across his chest to put his hand over hers. “Thank you.”

She shrugged. “I haven't done anything yet. Thank me when we track down these kids.”

“You breathed life back into them. That's something. It's a lot.” He reached forward to brush away a few strands of hair that had fallen across one eye. She shivered at the light touch. Unable to stop himself, he let his fingers glide through her hair. A small sound escaped her throat. He leaned in and she let him. Electricity shot through him as their lips met, so strong it nearly hurt. He needed more. Standing up, he pulled her closer, wrapped his arms around her tight. A moan slipped out when she did the same. She tasted like honey and mint. It mingled with the cooking in the air and turned into something amazing. The kiss grew fevered, desperate. Their jaws ate against each other, and her fingers dug into his back. When he reached his hands under her shirt to caress bare skin, she jumped. Panic filled her scent. She pushed him away, her eyes wide. “We can't. Not here. Not now.”

His fingers ached when she pulled away. But she was right. There was too much at stake and it would be far too easy for someone to know they'd been here … doing exactly what they were doing. Any Sazi with a nose would know. He struggled to get his breathing under control. “You're right. Yeah. We have to get these cleaned up. But this isn't done.”

She didn't answer, couldn't get words out. But the look was enough. It wasn't done for her either. Claire changed the subject instead of answering. “Is there somewhere I can go to get a good signal to talk to my pack leaders? Somewhere that nobody will overhear?”

He nodded. “There's an okay signal in Republic. But at the top of the mountain, you have a clear shot to several towers. Here, let me draw you a map.”

It was somewhat crude, but as he drew, he explained it. When he was done, she nodded and tucked it in her pocket. “Thanks. I'm sure you understand why I can't take you along.”

He raised his brows and then sighed. “Yeah. You probably can't.” It was so matter-of-fact that it took her aback.

Her mouth dropped in surprise. “Excuse me?”

He raised his hand, looked around the room. “Whatever is happening, it's happening to the whole damned town. Memory loss, missing people, weird darknesses, and creatures that attack cars. None of this is normal, even for Luna Lake. I can't tell you for certain that I'm not involved, even if I don't think I am. Until you got here, I thought everything was normal. Now that I know it's not, I could easily be poison to you finding out what's going on. Someone has to, and you might be our best hope.”

She didn't seem like she knew how to respond. “I appreciate your honesty. I am going to try to figure this out. I promise.”

“I know you will. Go stir your stew again and let's get going. I'll take the papers out to the car.”

 

CHAPTER 19

It took a few minutes to wipe down the files and get them back in order in the cabinet. But they had copies of everything. “Let me give you a ride back to the house.” She shouldn't be alone on the road. Maybe what she was uncovering was what his attacker had meant. “You should know I was attacked on the way over here. Hit in the back with a chunk of wood and told to leave this alone. But I didn't have any idea what
this
meant. I think maybe now I do.”

She locked the school door and pushed against it to be sure it was shut tight. He held out his hand to help her down the icy step. No tingles with both of them wearing gloves. “Good to know. We'll both have to watch our backs until we can notify someone on the Council or higher up in Wolven than…” She faded off and he quickly realized why.

He heard the growl just a second too late. A blur of fur ripped Claire's hand from his as she was knocked a dozen feet away by a pissed-off female wolf.

*   *   *

Claire's first instinct was to grab the wolf by the scruff of the neck and toss it … no, toss
her,
up and over her head. Then she shifted, tearing her clothes to ribbons in the process. Fingernails were no substitute for claws and teeth. The wolf twisted in midair, landing on all fours and came toward her again, growling. The wolf's snarls became strangled as Claire got her jaws around the black-and-tan beast's throat. Claws ripped at her fur, found purchase, and tore open one foreleg. Claire tasted blood as she bit deeper—not sour, so not a rogue. But the scent of jealousy was strong, with anger, hurt, and hate enough to make her eyes water. Why wasn't she surprised that Alek had failed to mention a girlfriend?

Alek ran forward in human form and grabbed both wolves by the scruffs of their necks and used brute strength to pull them apart. Claire also felt that he was trying to push them apart using his magic, learning from her example the previous day. But the stream of magic was dim. It had been a long day. “Paula! Stop it! What the hell are you doing?” He moved his grip to hold Paula around the chest, using his legs to heave her away from Claire.
Paula? The waitress?

When Claire sensed that Alek had a good grip on the other wolf, she released her bite and pulled away. She moved off a few feet and paced, staying alert in case he couldn't hold her.

“Stay the fuck away from my boyfriend, Texas trash!” Her strong accent was unfamiliar to Claire. She writhed in Alek's arms, obviously eager to get at Claire again.

Above Paula's head, Alek looked thunderstruck. “I'm not your boyfriend, Paula. What the hell?! We went on
one
date.
One!
And it was two years ago!”

That stopped the wolf cold. She stopped wiggling and turned her muzzle toward Alek, leaning back against him as though he held her in a loving embrace. “But we see each other every day. You come to the diner, we sit, we eat and talk. How could you not think of them as dates?”

Claire watched Alek try to figure out what to say. It was apparent that this whole scene was a surprise to him. At the very least, there was serious miscommunication going on, and it was more than she could solve right now. At worst, she was mated to him and he was going to have to find a way to let her down. He was an available alpha and she was an unattached female. It happened fairly often, from what she understood. It was seldom pretty or fun. “Look, I'm going to let you two work this out. I still need to tell the police about the woman from the ice cream shop. And I do have to tell them you attacked me. I won't press charges, but I have to make a report.” Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe not. But she couldn't afford to presume that the whole police force was corrupt. The missing kids might have something to do with the school instead. The only way to find out if the police were corrupt was to file a report and see what they did.

She picked up the remains of her clothes and pocket items, and trotted toward the police station. Just before she opened the door, she heard Paula shout, “Stay away from him, bitch!”

The last thing she needed was to get in the middle of a love triangle. He might make her feel crazy with lust, but apparently she wasn't the only one.

It wasn't until she was opening the door to the police station with one paw that she realized she hadn't picked up the map Alek had made for her. She pulled the door so it hit her forehead, a quicker method than finding a wall to beat her head into.
Sigh
.

The police chief was waiting for her in the entry. “You're late.”

She dropped the clothing in a heap on the floor. “I am?” It was an honest question because she didn't know she had to report back at any specific time in the evening. “When was I told to stop?”

His face went through a few contortions as he recalled their conversation, trying to figure out how to blame her. Finally, he put up a lie to cover his trail, but it was so blatant that the pepper scent nearly made her start sneezing. “Rachel was supposed to tell you there's a six p.m. stop time. I'll have to deal with her later.”

“What Rachel told me was that the job had to be done, no matter how long it took. It took this long to finish everything. So just go ahead and take it out on me. I know that's what you want to do anyway.” She couldn't hide the frustration and disgust in her voice. She blocked her mind as much as she could. It took work and had to be a conscious effort, so the less she thought the better.

His boot tip caught her square in the chest, right between her front legs. He was quicker than she'd expected. Her back and head hit the wall next to the door, knocking the air out of her lungs. She fell in a heap and had to relearn how to breathe. He stepped to stand over her. “You don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?”

She coughed and spit out blood. Great. Hopefully it was just from biting her tongue. “You're the Second. I would think you'd be accustomed to people expecting the worst of you.” Having no experience with Seconds in other packs, she had no idea whether his method of enforcement was common, but it was unacceptable for her own pack.

Dropping into a crouch and sitting back on his heels, he grabbed the fur between her ears and lifted her head until he could look into her eyes. She didn't fight, as hard as it was.
Undercover work is hard,
she remembered her Alpha telling her.
Sometimes you're the cop, sometimes the robber. Either will get the bad guy if you embrace the role.
“I saw the little scene outside. You attacked a resident. Should I consider you a rogue?”

An idea came to her and she said it quickly, trying to keep him from seeing it before he heard it. “No, but I think protective custody would be a good idea. Aren't Omegas supposed to be kept safe from people who want to kill them?”

He glared at her. “You're asking to be locked up for the night?”

Worked for her. “For the night, until she cools down.” After a second, she added, “I'll need clothes. I had to shift fast.”

He nodded once. Good. “So I saw. You're a good fighter. I'll remember that.” Damn. Not as good. “I'll call Dani. She'll bring what you need. The first door on the left downstairs is the Omega quarters. You should remember. It's where you woke up yesterday.”

She didn't remember if there was a bed in the room, but the floor would probably be more comfortable than the couch she'd been lying on. “I haven't eaten today. I was working.”

He shrugged and pulled her by the scalp to her feet. “Guess you'll know better tomorrow.”

So … wounded, tired, and no food. At least there was a sink to get water. She wouldn't starve for one night. She'd learned only too well how to live on very little food, and she'd eaten well last night. “Guess I will.” She worked hard to keep any hint of sarcasm or whining out of her voice and scent. It wasn't easy. All she could think was how much she would enjoy going home to Texas.

He didn't offer to help her carry the ripped clothing. She was pretty sure he enjoyed watching her struggle with everything in wolf form. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of shifting. He followed her to the stairs and unlocked the door. She kept an eye on him the whole time so she'd have warning if he tried to push her down again, but he didn't even try. Apparently, her being submissive had made an impact.

The door locked above her with an audible click and then a sharp clang echoed through the hallway as the iron grate was slammed into place. It was time to get a few hours' sleep. Once everyone had gone to bed she would do a little exploring and see what she could learn about this town and the people who lived here.

 

CHAPTER 20

“Paula, what's going on? We're just friends. We've never been anything else. Have I said or done something that made you think there was more between us?” Once Claire had left, the black-and-tan wolf had settled down and was now sitting next to him on a park bench across from the police station. He didn't feel right leaving until he was sure Paula would not be a danger to Claire when she left the police station. Hopefully, Lenny would understand his staying outside instead of coming in to report was a public safety issue.