Kate Allenton (8 page)

    
“That’s pretty easy. Only a handful knew about it. My best friends, their husbands, Lydia, and,
of course, Jonah. There is no way any of them told Black anything. So that leaves only your people
and you. Which leads me to ask…why not just wait for me to come to you. Why kidnap me?”

Edward shook his head. “I was following Black’s orders and it was a bonus that Ethan had
asked the same of me. Only my two betas and I knew about you, and they were with me when we
went to pick you up. Black contacted me as soon as we landed in Henderson. My guys didn’t even
know our mission until we landed.”

    
“Wait! I thought you said you saved me from Black finding me.”

    
He tisked, “I saved you from Black’s other territory bosses. Had I denied his request, you might
not have been so lucky.”

    
“He said he already knew who I was, so maybe he was having me tailed…or, hell, maybe he was
having you tailed too.”

        
Edward took another sip of his coffee. “He knew about you having the coordinates. Whoever
told him was either one of yours, or his tail was extremely close and broke into your condo.”

        
Cathy set the coffee on the table. “That’s impossible. I only had the coordinates about two
minutes before you showed up to kidnap me.”

        
“To escort you…”

        
“Tit for tat…either way, I’m here, and Black
figured
it out. I don’t like this. I don’t like this one
bit.”

        
“What did Black discuss with you?”

        
Cathy rose from her chair, not ready to discuss Black’s ultimatum with Edward. He’d given her
more information than what she’d started with,
but was
she ready to start trusting him? “I guess he
wanted to be the one to drop the bombshell about
my
mate.” She cleared her throat. “I need to
borrow one of your cars.”

        
Edward stood. “Where are you going?”

        
“I need to get some necessities from whatever
town
is nearby, and I need to make some travel
arrangements for Jonah. He doesn’t need to be
here.”

        
“I’ll take you.”

        
She shook her head.
“That’s not necessary. I’ll only be gone an hour or
two if you could point
me in the right direction.”

        
“Unacceptable. I’ll send Tessa to take you so you don’t get lost. She’ll help you with whatever
you need.”

        
Cathy gave a slight nod. “Very well. Thank you. Can you tell her to give me about ten minutes,
and I’ll be back down.”

        
“Sure, she’ll be waiting for you in the lobby.”

Cathy left Edward in the kitchen. Her head was pounding with the new information and the
new questions running around in her mind. She needed answers, and it seemed she was only going
to get the answers that Edward wanted her to know. She’d get the rest from Ethan, even if she had
to beat them out of him.

        
Cathy hurried up to Jonah’s room. Her plan was to buy him a change of clothes and some
necessities from in town. He offered to go with her, and she declined. Not only did he need clothes
but she needed the time to figure out a strategy on how to get him back home. Bus, train,

automobile, it didn’t matter which way as long as the outcome was the same. He would have argued

to stay, and she couldn’t afford to take the chance that he’d end up hurt. Two alphas and a

psychopath were enough for any girl to deal with.

    
Cathy was smiling when she returned from her shopping trip. She’d gotten everything she was
looking for. She’d bought Jonah a couple changes
of
clothes and toiletries, a plane ticket for a flight
that was scheduled to take off in twenty-four
hours, and she’d
also bought a disposable cell phone to
replace her old one.

    
As Cathy neared Jonah’s door, she heard yelling
out
in the hall. The loud voices carried.
Someone was inside yelling at Jonah. She’d left him
alone
for only an hour, and Jonah had let people
into his room? What the heck had he been thinking?

    
Cathy dropped the bags outside the door and
pulled
the syringe out of her pocket. She’d left the
gun in the room, and hopefully, Jonah was using
it to
protect himself. Cathy palmed the syringe and
pushed the door open.

    
Her heart dropped into her stomach. Jonah
had the
gun in his hand all right, and it was pointed
at Ethan’s head. Edward was also in the room, standing next to Ethan. Startled, Jonah waved the
gun back and forth between all of them.

    
Cathy took a tentative step into the room.
“Jonah,
what are you doing?”

    
“Cathy, you need to leave,”
Edward barked.

    
“Oh, I don’t think so,” she grumbled

    
Sweat broke out on Jonah’s forehead. Cathy glanced around the disheveled room. Her clothes
were strewn about everywhere, furniture was overturned, and cabinets were opened.

    
Ethan glanced at her. “I came looking for you and walked in on Jonah tossing the apartment.”

    
Cathy shook her head. This didn’t make sense. She turned to Jonah. “Is that true? Did you do
this?”

    
Jonah waved the gun. “You were supposed to be gone longer, and your wolves weren’t
supposed to find me.”

    
Cathy stepped farther into the room and was blocked by Edward. “Ask him what he was
looking for.”

    
Cathy placed her hands on Edward’s arms to move him, and he didn’t budge. A low, menacing
growl came from Ethan’s direction. She snapped her gaze to him. “Oh no, you don’t. You aren’t
allowed to act like you give a shit. You haven’t earned that right, and you don’t deserve me either,
you asshole.”

     
She tried to move to Ethan, ready to strangle him, but Edward stopped her again. “One
problem at a time, Ms. Fleming. Ask Jonah what he was looking for.”

     
Cathy narrowed her eyes at Ethan before returning her gaze to Jonah. “What were you looking
for?”

     
Jonah pointed the gun at her. “Hand it
over. I didn’t find
them in the room, so you must have
the vials still on you.”

     
Edward’s brows dipped. “What vials is he talking about, Cathy?”

     
Ethan never took his gaze off Jonah, but he
stepped
further away from Cathy, as if he was
trying to circle behind Jonah.

     
“Where are they?” Jonah demanded.

     
“They aren’t here. I stashed them on the property, but they aren’t in this room.”

     
“Liar!” he screamed.

     
“What vials is he talking about?”

     
“The ones Black gave me. The ones I hid at
the
gazebo earlier today.” Her words were a lie, but
one she was willing to play. Her trust in all men
was
slowly diminishing from the actions of those
around her.

     
Ethan was almost behind
Jonah, and when she mentioned Black’s name,
Ethan growled,
alerting Jonah to his position. He spun on Ethan with the gun in the air. Cathy only had a second to
react. She raised the syringe, ran toward Jonah, and plunged it into his neck just as Ethan blocked
the gun from coming down to get off a straight shot. Jonah pulled the trigger; the bullet went off
like a cannon, lodging into the drywall in the ceiling. Crème color drywall came raining down on her
head in a cloud of dust. The sound of the gunshot rang in her ears, somewhat disorienting her.

Jonah dropped the gun and staggered, dropping to his knees. Edward and Ethan had Jonah
cornered and proceeded to block her from her fallen friend. What the hell had gotten into Jonah?

     
Cathy dropped to her knees and brushed off the hand Ethan used trying to stop her from
touching Jonah. She pulled the syringe out of his neck and felt for his pulse. She could feel the
beating beneath her fingertips. She sat back on her legs and let out a sigh. She glanced up at Ethan.
“What the hell did you do? You come into town and all hell breaks loose.”

     
Ethan pointed to his chest. “Me…when I came into town?” He chuckled. “Think again, honey.
Trouble follows you everywhere you go. Why the hell do you think I sent Edward after you?”

     
Cathy stood and planted her hands on her hips. “Maybe because you were worried your
father…”
She used air quotes around the word father. “…would find me.” She stepped over Jonah’s

body and poked at Ethan’s chest. “Well, guess what, asshole. He did, and in the short ten minutes
we talked, he told me more than you ever cared to share.”

     
Cathy moved across the room to the picture that Black had left her with. The tiny proof that
indicated Ethan had known about her from day
one. She
picked it up and shoved it against Ethan’s
chest. “Case in point.”

She pointed to the door. “Now get the hell
out of my
room and stay the hell out of my life.”

Ethan stepped toward her, and Edward blocked
him.
Edward gestured toward Jonah. “Why
don’t you take him downstairs while he’s still knocked out? I think both you and Cathy need some
time to cool off.”

     
Ethan bumped Edward’s chest with his when
he
moved into the man’s face. He let a low,
menacing growl reverberate through the room. “Are
you
standing between me and my mate?”

     
Cathy picked up the gun and pointed it at Ethan. “He’s protecting me, you jackass. I’m the one
standing between you and your mate. Now get the
hell
out of my room.”

     
Cathy cocked the gun and dared Ethan to do anything other than follow her instructions. She
was sure of one thing and one thing only. Edward
was the
only one she could trust. She damn sure
didn’t trust Ethan, and with Jonah’s odd behavior,
she
wasn’t sure she could trust him either.

     
Ethan growled one more
time but lifted Jonah, threw him over his
shoulder, and walked out of
the room.

     
Cathy lowered the gun and set it on the table before she plopped down on the couch and rested
her head between her hands.

     
This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t how she’d wanted to confront Ethan. She wanted to
speak with him without an audience. She wanted to say her peace and leave. That was why she was
still here. The situation was jacked up.

     
The cushion beside her dipped. Edward touched her shoulder, in a way meant to reassure her.
“It will be all right, Cathy.”

Her head shot up, and she glared at him. “Don’t patronize me. I’m not sure that’s possible.”

He removed his hand from her shoulder and clasped them together between his parted legs.
“What was in the vials, Cathy?”

     
“The serum the Phantoms have been after. Black gave it to me in good faith so that I’d think of
accepting his proposal.”

     
“The. Serum. The same serum that duplicates Black’s powers and gives the recipient the powers
to absorb another’s gifts?”

       
Cathy nodded. She hadn’t wanted anyone to find out this way. She’d wanted to keep it secret
for a bit longer, but she could trust Edward, right?

       
“What was his proposal?”

       
“My life, and in return, he’d stop the attacks
and
killings. He wants me to work for him.”

       
“What does that even mean? You have
to know he’s
using it as a way to control you…and
him.”

       
“Don’t you think I know that?”

       
“You can’t do it.”

       
Cathy stood, walked to the door, and pulled
it open.
“I have to.”