Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (33 page)

“I’m thinking Glad might be right and you are the dumbest woman alive.
Why on earth would you be meeting a cold blooded killer
on
his own turf?”

Their voices faded as they climbed the stairs.
When the door to a room closed Alexis turned to him and stared up into his face.
She was quiet
,
but he could see a world of emotions swirling in her eyes.

“I’m not leaving here.
I know that’s what you’re thinking
,
so you can stop that right now.”
He brushed away a tear before he continued.
“We won’t let them win, Alexis. And besides
,
we’re mated now.
Nothing can hurt us.”

“They’ll hurt us in other ways,” she said as she laid her head on his chest.
“They both…” She looked up at him.
“Why?”

He pushed her head back to this chest.
He didn’t know.
Most people d
o
things for greed.
But this woman seemed to be doing it for simple pleasure.
Gordon didn’t know yet
,
but he’d find out.

Picking her up
,
he took her to their bedroom. She didn’t say anything about him leaving again and he didn’t press when she insisted on looking at the book that Phil had given her.
He wanted to tell her that in the morning things would look better
,
but he could feel her hurt at what was going on.
When she pulled open the wall that he’d thought was a computer area he could only stare at what she reve
a
led to him.

The wall unit was huge when it was closed
,
but when open it was massive.
The doors only hid the room beyond them and the equipment she housed there.
When she sat at the large desk he walked in and sat in one of the many chairs that faced it.
She was booting up the computer when she started to explain.

“I’m not what…my family thought I was a chemical engineer.”
He watched as the screens behind her lit up.
“I’ve been employed by the best of the best.
I’m still employed by our government.
I find things.
Mostly people
,
but I sometimes get called out to find treasures, bombs
,
and even an occasional murderer.”

He watched the screen directly behind her start to focus on something.
It took him several seconds to figure out she was looking at this house.
When the screen moved he watched as it seemed to be stopping and starting again, searching for…well, he wasn’t sure what it was searching for.

“Are you looking for someone? Or something?”
She grinned at him and he looked back at the screen.
“The phone call.
You’re tracking the phone call
,
aren’t you?”

“Yes.
I have this enhanced signal booster that can back trace a call.
The call was made from this house and all I need to do now is find the source.
I’m thinking I might know who the person is
,
but…well, I don’t know where he lives.”

“Tom.
You’re looking for Tom.
Is he the one that you think is talking to your aunt and Wilbur?”
She nodded
at first
then shook her head
,
seemingly undecided
.
“You think he might be looking for you
and
someone else then?
Who? Do you know?”

“Sort of.
I know that Tom changed Paddy
,
or at least the vampire part.
And
,
for whatever reason
,
he wants Darcy.
I figure he’s going to use her against me. Maybe that wasn’t his plan at first
,
but I think that might be where this is headed now.
I got the feeling he was going to keep her for something
,
but I didn’t know what.”

They both watched as the screen kept zigzagging across.
He was dizzy watching it and looked back down at her.
She was looking at the screen in front of her with a frown.
He started to ask her what
was wrong
when the screen froze.
She looked up at him.

He didn’t like the look.
Slowly
,
he looked back up at the large screen behind her and tried to make out where it was.
When he figured it out
,
it was all he could do not to howl.
Christ, the man was living on pack land. And not only that, he was living in CJ’s old house.

~~~

Paddy paced the yard.
He’d been waiting on Tom for over an hour. He had a plan he wanted to share with him and hadn’t gone to the house like he should have.
Plus
,
he had to pee.
If the prick didn’t show up soon he was headed for the woods.
After another twenty minutes Paddy went to the edge of the property and into the deeper woods to take care of business.
While he was just pulling out his cock to urinate a car pulled up.
Paddy nearly peed on his own shoe when he saw who got out.

He wasn’t really surprised to see Tom being handed out. The guy couldn’t take a shit without fifty people there to hand him a sheet of toilet paper to wipe with.
And eating dinner was something that Paddy had only joined him for once and thought he’d die before going back to sit through ‘courses
.
’
And all the plates and silverware completely confused him.
Nah, he thought, give him a brown paper bag, burger and fries
,
and a beer and he had all the courses he wanted.

The next person out of the car was Jessie.
He’d never liked her and seeing her hanging all over Tom like she was his…
Paddy frowned.
They were lovers
,
he just realized.
And he realized something else
. S
he was Tom’s source too.
Watching the two of them touch each other and acting like,
gross
he thought, ran
d
y goats, he nearly turned away.
But he heard Tom speak and he froze in his tracks.

“Did the moron show up?”
Jessie shook her head.
“I give you one job and this is how you do it?
Jessie, I’ve told you before, when I give you something to do I expect it to be done promptly.
Not when you get around to it.
I’ll not have anyone thinking they can get away with not following the simplest of directions.”

“I have a plan.
I’m going to make sure his scent is all over my niece.
He left some of his clothes behind when he departed the house the last time and I’ve put them in with some of Alexis’ clothes in a trash bag. Every
time I go by it I give it a good shake so that his scent is all over hers.”
Jessie slid her hand over Tom’s chest and Paddy backed up
,
suddenly unsure of this situation.

He stepped on a log as he moved and it snapped
. T
he sound was loud in the otherwise noisy forest. Everything around him grew quiet in an instant.
The couple and the driver looked toward where he was standing.
Paddy knew that any moment he was going to die.

The driver took out his gun and started to where Paddy was hiding.
He didn’t have time to move
,
so he stood perfectly still. The closer they got
to where he was hiding
,
the more terrified he became.
The way they were standing with
Tom just behind the driver and Jessie with her back to the men and her gun out too
,
there was no way they’d miss him if the
y
saw him
.
He never took his eyes from them even though the need to flee was strong.
Just before they took a step into the woods a large male deer leapt out of the tree line beside them and had them all turn as one toward the giant stag.

The roar of gun fire was terrifying.
Paddy watched as the stag fell first to his knees then to the ground.
He was dead long before his head fell to the side.
With eyes wide open
,
blood spilled to the earth and he took his last breath.
Paddy had never been so happy to see something else die in his entire life.

“That was fucking awesome,” the driver said as the last echo faded away.
Paddy had fallen to his ass at some point and didn’t even bother looking up to see what he was talking about.
“Did you see that sucker bleed out?
Christ, let’s scare up—
”

“Shut up and get that piece of shit out of here.”
Tom slapped the driver hard in the face and knocked him down. “And this one too.”

The gun was still out
,
and pointed at Jessie’s head so quickly that Paddy nearly screamed for her to run.
The bullet went in her forehead and out the back of her head so quickly that Paddy knew she was able to watch her body drop.
Tom had just killed his source and he had a sudden feeling that he was next.

Paddy felt his urine run down his leg as he thought of what lay in waiting for him the next time he crossed paths with Tom.
When the driver picked up the dead woman first
,
tossed her on top of the deer carcass
,
and he began to drag the two bodies away
,
Paddy made the decision to get as far away as he could.
Right now, right fucking now.

As soon as Tom went into the house and he was sure that the driver was well away Paddy gathered up as m
any
leaves and pinecones
as
he could find and tossed them over where he’d been
,
hoping to mask his scent.
After waiting another hour
,
and after the driver returned and went inside, Paddy left.
He was nearly to his car when his cell phone went off. Knowing it was Tom he broke the phone in half
,
tossed both pieces into the road
,
and drove over them when he started up his car.