Lone Wolfe Protector (9 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Splendor Pass Community Hospital was tiny compared to most. It really was more of a clinic than anything else. But it was nice, and as Maggie walked through the sliding glass doors a step behind Koda, she was met with a warm blast of air and a pleasant, clean scent.

He’d been quiet since he’d held her hand in the truck. She hadn’t said anything either, but her hand still tingled where he’d touched it. In fact, her entire body felt strange, as if she’d just now accepted after a year of denial, that she could still feel this way. It had been so long since she’d focused on anything but grief, that the concept of being attracted to someone was hard to wrap her mind around.

They walked up to the nurse’s station, where a young woman sat on the other side of a gleaming counter.

“May I help you?”

Maggie thought she caught a glimpse of appreciation in the other woman’s eyes as she settled the brunt of her attention on Koda. He was in uniform, the silver star on his jacket gleaming in the fluorescent light of the lobby.

“We’re here to see Candi Brooks,” he said.

“Sure thing.” Her fingers danced along the keyboard. “Miss Brooks is in room 116.”

“Thanks.”

The woman watched him turn, her gaze dropping shamelessly to his rear end. Maggie felt a prickle of irritation.
Rude
. Stepping possessively closer to Koda, she glanced at the clerk over her shoulder. Then ran right into him when he stopped to drink from the fountain a few feet away.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

As they climbed the stairs to the second floor, her thoughts turned dark again. For the last hour, she’d been trying to brace herself for seeing poor Candi, but was having a lousy time of it. What if she blamed Maggie, at least in part for what happened? No matter what Koda said, no matter what
anyone
said, no amount of reassuring was going to make her feel okay with this. Because she felt it was her own fault.

Koda read the room numbers aloud as they passed. “One fourteen, one fifteen…here we go.”

He hesitated before knocking. She figured she wasn’t the only one dreading this.

“Come on in,” said a voice from inside.

He pushed the door open, just as a nurse in pink scrubs was leaving.

“She needs her rest,” she said, eyeing Koda as if resenting his presence. “I know you have your questions, but please keep it short.”

“It’s okay. He’s family.”

Candi lay in a bed by the window, her hand outstretched toward them.

The nurse nodded and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

An awful lump rose in Maggie’s throat. Candi’s face was a swollen, black-and-blue mess. Her nose was bandaged and part of her hair was shaved away from another bandage on her head. Her beautiful, strawberry-blond hair that had been teased to perfection just last night.

A strangled sound escaped Maggie’s throat. Koda stood beside her, his deep complexion drained of color. He moved first, crossing the room to take Candi’s hand.

“Don’t say it,” she said, trying to smile. Her lips were so puffy, they shone like glass. “I look gorgeous, right?”

Koda took an audible breath. Maggie could tell he was trying to compose himself.

“You always look gorgeous.”

“Liar.”

He smiled down at her, but there was something in his expression Maggie hadn’t seen before. An emotion so intense that it twisted her stomach. She had no doubt that whoever did this would pay.

“I’d never lie to you,” he said.

“At least I’m finally getting that nose job I’ve always wanted.” The swollen eyes shifted to Maggie. “Hey there, doll.”

That was it. Those three little words, warm and sweet, despite everything, were enough to make Maggie want to cry. Her chin trembled, even though she willed it not to. She stepped closer, brushing Koda’s shoulder.

“Hi, Candi.”

“Why so sad?”

“I’m…” Maggie struggled to find the right thing to say, but it eluded her like a naughty puppy. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

Candi’s lips curved. It looked painful. “Me, too. But he didn’t hurt anything that won’t heal. And on the bright side, I’ll have a few days off from the café, right?” She looked back at Koda, who was frowning. “Oh, come on, you two. I’m not
dead.
”

She wasn’t dead. Not this time… Koda must have been thinking the same thing, because he slid Maggie a look.

“It’s okay,” Candi said. “I’m gonna be fine.”

Maggie stared at her. “I feel like this could be my fault. Zane—”

Candi put a hand on Maggie’s arm. “Don’t say anything else. Zane’s already been here and I know what he thinks.”

“He has a point.”

Koda sighed.

“Well, he does,” Maggie said.

“Zane’s mad,” Candi said. “He needs someone to blame, so he’s blaming you. When he calms down and thinks it through, he’ll realize how stupid that is. But unfortunately, Zane isn’t the type to calm down easily.”

Maggie remembered how he’d glowered at her that afternoon. Like he’d wanted to come across the table and rip her throat out.

“He’ll be fine,” Candi went on. “Don’t worry about him. You weren’t the one who did this.”

Maggie could see why men were obsessed with this woman. She was stunning, on the inside and out. And even though Maggie had only known her a short while, she understood this. Accepted it as fact.

“I’ve been trying to tell her that,” Koda said. “But she won’t listen to me.”

“I listen to you,” Maggie said quickly. “I do.”

They looked at each other for a long, pregnant moment.

“I’m glad to see you two are getting along,” Candi said.

Maggie’s face pulsed. Was it that obvious?

“Candi, honey.” Koda pulled up a chair. “Do you remember anything? Anything at all?”

“Sure. I remember most of it. Right up until I hit my head, and then it gets foggy. I was just getting out of the shower and I heard someone banging on the front door.”

“What time was it?”

“Early. I had to open at the café. About seven.”

Koda fished a small notebook out of his jacket pocket and flipped it open. “You opened the door?”

“I went to the door, but I didn’t open it. I looked through the peephole and that’s when he busted it open. Hit me right in the damn nose.”

Koda glanced up, his face drawn. “What did he look like?”

“He was wearing a mask.”

“What kind?”

“A Halloween mask. It was one of those things you put over your entire head. Rubber. It was a Native American face. There was long black hair. Feathers in it.”

Koda scribbled on the pad, his head bent in concentration. “We found some of the hair on the floor. Synthetic.”

“I grabbed it,” Candi said. “I tried to get it off, but he kept ducking. He was fast.
Really
fast.”

“Did he say anything?”

“Nothing. Not a sound. Not even when I hit him over the head with the lamp.”

Koda’s lips twitched at that. “How hard?”

“Hard enough to knock him backward. Bastard.”

“How about his body type? How big was he?”

“Tall, lean. But he was solid. Strong. He felt like cement.”

Koda nodded, scribbling in the notebook. “What was he wearing?”

“Just a T-shirt and jeans. Don’t ask me to describe them, because I can’t. That’s about all I noticed. Except that the T-shirt was white.”

Pausing, he looked up. “No jacket?”

“Nope.”

“Strange. It was in the teens this morning.”

“The whole thing was strange.”

“Do you know how long he might have been there? Roughly.”

“I passed out after I hit my head. But as far as him beating the shit out of me, I think that part only took a few minutes.”

Koda finished writing something down and the room grew quiet, the only sound being the purposeful footsteps of medical staff down the hall.

“Anything else?” he finally asked. “Anything that sticks out about him?”

“Yeah.” Candi sniffed, and for the first time, Maggie could tell she was getting tired. They should leave soon. “He smelled funny,” she said.

“Funny, how?”

“Don’t know if I can put my finger on it. Kind of earthy. But familiar. I can’t explain it.”

“Earthy…like he needed a shower?”

“No. Earthy, like
earthy
. He smelled sort of like…pine needles and mud.”

Koda glanced at Maggie.

“Okay, then.” He patted Candi’s leg. “You should rest now. I’ll be back later to do a formal interview. Mostly we just wanted to see you. Make sure you’re all right. Aunt A is coming later, okay?”

Candi nodded, her eyes heavy. Maggie was surprised she’d managed to stay awake this long. She was probably getting some pretty serious pain meds through her IV. But if Maggie had learned anything about Candi so far, it was that she was one tough cookie.

Maggie leaned down. “Bye, Candi. I’ll come back to see you tomorrow.”

She smiled, but her eyes were closed.

“Let’s go,” Koda said quietly. “She’s exhausted. We shouldn’t have stayed this long.”

Maggie followed him to the door just as the nurse came back in, lips pursed.

“We were just leaving,” he said.

“Wait.” Candi’s voice was sleepy but urgent. “I remember something. It’s fuzzy. It was after he pushed me…”

Koda stepped forward.

“He took…” Candi’s face screwed up. Maggie couldn’t tell if it was from pain, or the effort of remembering. “He took my bra,” she said. “The son of a bitch took my bra.”

The fog had been so thick.

Their little yellow car had inched along, making its way through the mostly deserted town. It was almost midnight and a full moon hung over head. There were moments of clarity, where the mist parted and the moonlight shone through like a giant lamp in the sky.

“I’m about to pop,” Aimee had said, and they’d laughed again.

She pushed her hair away from her face, and looked out the window. “This place gives me the creeps, Mags.” She said this while rubbing the fog away from the glass. “If I didn’t have to go so bad…”

They passed an old mechanic’s shop on the right. A post office on the left. There were no other cars, and Maggie felt oddly cold despite the heater blowing warm air against her cheeks.

She leaned forward and rubbed the windshield with her shirtsleeve. “I can barely see.”

“Up there,” Aimee had said. “To the right. There’s a gas station and convenience store.”

“Wolfe Creek General Store,” the sign had said. As they got closer, they could make out two dejected gas pumps in the gravel parking lot. Beyond that, a small building with a neon-red
Open
sign flickering in the window.

Maggie had pulled up next to a pump and looked at Aimee before opening the door. “At least they’re not closed,” she’d said. “Otherwise we’d be going on the side of the freeway.”

They’d stepped out into the frigid night air, and it had taken Maggie’s breath away. Aimee came around and grabbed her elbow. “You sure you don’t want to? It’s not too late.”

“And get hit by a car with my pants down? I’d rather take my chances here.”

They’d stood there, arm in arm, staring at the store as if it were a slumbering animal. They couldn’t see much beyond the windows, except that the lights were on. An animal cried in the woods behind them and the sound sent chills up Maggie’s neck.

Aimee danced from foot to foot. “It’s freezing out here. Let’s go in.”

They opened the cloudy glass door, a bell tinkling their arrival, and were met with a peculiar emptiness. There wasn’t a clerk in sight.

“Weird,” Aimee whispered. “This place is so weird.”

“I know.”

Across several aisles of junk food and travel essentials, was the bathroom. There was a crude stick figure of a man and a woman painted on the door.

“I guess that’s it,” Aimee said.

They heard a clunking sound outside and turned to see an attendant by the pumps.

Maggie sagged in relief. At least it wasn’t completely deserted like some kind of
Twilight Zone
episode.

She’d turned to Aimee. “Why don’t you go first, and I’ll get the gas.”

“Okay. Get me a pack of those mini doughnuts, will you? The ones with powdered sugar. I’ll pay you back.”

“We’ll make ourselves sick.”

“That’s the whole point of a road trip, Mags. Junk food and gossip.” She turned then, her hair bouncing down her back in a wave of blond curls, her head tilted just so.

And then she’d looked casually over one shoulder. She’d been so young, so pretty, so full of life.

“I’ll be right back,” she’d said.

Chapter Fourteen

Maggie sat staring out a window of the Arrowhead Café, the memory of that night thick behind her eyes and her coffee long since cold.

It was October thirtieth. A day that had dawned like any other. Freezing, wet, foggy. But Maggie had risen out of bed with a distinctive weight sitting squarely on her chest. She’d woken crying, which wasn’t unusual. But she’d also woken confused. She’d been dreaming about Aimee. She’d been alive and staying with her at the Inn. They’d been drinking a glass of wine in the parlor, talking about Koda Wolfe.

I like him,
Aimee had said.
I think he’s good for you. I think he can protect you.

Maggie had leaned forward, but Aimee had begun to swim before her. Maggie narrowed her eyes, struggling to see her friend clearly.
What does that mean? Protect me, how?

I like him,
Aimee had said again.
He’ll protect you.

Maggie had been annoyed. What was she talking about? And then, like the fog itself, Aimee had broken up and disappeared, leaving only emptiness behind.

Aimee? Don’t go. Aimee?

“Aimee?” She’d sat up in bed and looked around. She was alone, of course. But the dream had felt so real that it took a moment for her brain to adjust. And then the familiar ache inside her chest, so painful that she thought she might break from it.

She sat in a small corner of the café, thinking of that night like she had so often before. Thinking of the last moment she’d seen her friend alive.

Rubbing her thumb up and down the chilled mug, she stared out the window in a daze.

One year
. One full year. And they were no closer to finding out what happened to Aimee today than they’d been that awful, cold night. How could a person just vanish like that?

The door to the café opened, bringing with it a chilly gust of air. Maggie put her hand over her napkin to keep it from fluttering to the floor, but didn’t look up.

Aimee.

“Is this seat taken?”

Koda stood over her. He wore a gray North Face fleece and leather boots laced only halfway up. Very outdoorsy. Very sexy. Although he probably just rolled out of bed, he also looked like something out of an Eddie Bauer ad. Her heart squeezed at the sight, confusing her. Making her wish she’d met him in a different time and place. Under different circumstances.

She smiled, all too aware of her wild, unwashed curls and bare, freckled face. “Please, sit.”

He did, scooting in close. She caught his scent, which was clean and warm. Maybe a little aftershave from the day before. “You look tired,” he said.

“That’s just a nice way of telling someone they look like crap.”

“No. You’re beautiful. But you do look tired.”

She flushed. Compliments from the opposite sex didn’t come her way very often. She’d never been the pretty one or the vivacious one. That had been Aimee. Maggie had always been comfortable being the bookworm, the one with the dry sense of humor. The one her mother called, “the personality.” But never the pretty one.

If Aimee had been sitting there at that very moment, she would have elbowed Maggie in the ribs and said,
See? I told you.

“Thank you.”

Koda motioned for the waitress. “Coffee please, Eileen. Black.”

He glanced around then, nodding to a few men on the other side of the café.

“They’re not missing a thing,” he said. “We’re the talk of the town.”

“God. I never wanted that.”

“I know you didn’t. But the truth is, what’s happened is bigger than just you and me.”

She knew that. But at the same time wondered if her presence here, along with her new attraction to Koda Wolfe, was like blowing on smoking kindling.

The waitress brought his coffee and studied Maggie with renewed interest, before sauntering away again.

“She’s a gossip,” Koda said, taking a sip. “But harmless.”

“Noted.”

They were quiet for a minute and Maggie looked back out the window. There were only a few inches between them. She could have put her hand on his thigh if she’d wanted to.

“I know what day it is,” he finally said. His voice was low, hesitant. The mist had turned to a light rain, temporarily washing clean the pickup trucks in the parking lot. The same trucks Maggie had so bitterly sized up a week ago, but now realized were just sensible mountain transportation.

The weight on her chest was crushing. It was hard to breathe. Trying to keep composed, she folded her hands neatly on the table. Still, she couldn’t look at him.

“I know how tough this is for you,” he said. “I know you don’t know me very well. But you can talk to me. I’m a pretty good listener.”

She winced and struggled to clear her mind of everything. Of Aimee, and the last image she had of her.

I’ll be right back.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice breaking. She stared down at her coffee. A year ago it had been wine and girls’ nights. Now, it was just stark reality. All of a sudden, she felt too old for her body. “I think I’m going to go back to my room and lie down for a while. I don’t feel very good.”

He dug a few dollars from his wallet and put them on the table. “I’ll walk you,” he said.

They opened the door of the café and stepped outside with Maggie squinting into the rain. She walked next to Koda, comforted by his presence. Then, surprising herself, and probably surprising him, too, she slipped her arm in his. He looked down, but she stared straight ahead, not trusting herself to meet his gaze. Instead she moved close, letting his body heat jump the boundaries of her winter clothing. And then after a few steps, he covered her chilly hand with his. It was such an uncomplicated gesture, made with no pretense whatsoever, but one that seemed to express everything left unspoken between them. She was safe while she was with him.

When they got back to the Inn, they were greeted by a roaring fire and the scent of bacon coming from the kitchen. Ara served breakfast to her guests on the weekends, and despite Maggie’s gloom, her stomach rumbled.

“Warm up before you go to your room.” Koda said gently. “It might do you some good.”

She followed him into the parlor, their footsteps creaking on the old wood floor. Maggie held her hands in front of the fire, and Koda leaned against the mantel, his short hair dripping onto his jacket, and watched her.

“Aimee was so fun,” she finally said, staring into the licking, popping flames. “You would have liked her.”

“I’m sure I would have.”

The heat warmed Maggie’s face, warmed her chest through the unzipped jacket. Memories, one after another, came rushing back. Riding bikes with Aimee to school, Aimee declaring every Sunday pajama day. Aimee’s voice over the phone, Aimee’s smile, Aimee’s laughter. They were all so vivid, so real, that Maggie had to blink them away.

“It’s the not
knowing.
If she suffered, or if she could still be alive somewhere.” She turned and looked up at Koda with months of unshed tears finally beginning to spill down her cheeks. “Some days I don’t think I can stand it, I miss her so much.”

“I know,” he said, stepping close. “I know you do.”

Before she realized what was happening, he’d pulled her against his chest. She closed her eyes and breathed him in, feeling his heart thud against her cheek.

She wrapped her arms around his waist. He was warm and solid, not an ounce of fat on his lean frame.

He touched her hair, ran his hand down her back, and she shivered in response.

And then he was pulling away, his hands on her shoulders, his breath tickling her face. She looked up. He was beautiful, dark, mysterious. He could have been one of the men in the hotel photographs from long ago. She realized then with a faint jolt of surprise that she trusted him more at that moment, than anyone else.

And just when had that happened? Overnight maybe? Under the spell of Wolfe Creek’s ardent moon? It had certainly been capable of stranger things. At some point Koda Wolfe had stopped being just an acquaintance and had begun to be something else all together.

He bent slightly, his black eyes fixed on hers. She didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel. She just wanted to fall into this moment and let it carry her away like the rush of a swollen river.

When his lips touched hers, they were warm and wet. Salty. She could feel an urgency there, yet he moved deliberately slow, as if not wanting to scare her. She responded by opening her mouth and touching her tongue to his. Everything inside her coiled. She was no longer full of pain, but of a longing so powerful that it threatened to turn her inside out. And she welcomed it.

His strong hands pressed into her back, bringing her even closer. Her breasts rubbed against his chest, her nipples hard and sensitive through her thin cotton bra. A wild pulse beat at the hollow of her throat, making her light-headed.

And then a sound. A footstep behind them that coaxed a moan from the old hardwood floor. Maggie sucked in a breath and Koda broke the kiss.

She turned to see Zane standing in the archway. His eyes glittered, his lips curled into a grin.

“I thought you told me to stay away from her, brother,” he said. “Now I see why.”

Koda sat at his desk, looking at the photographs in Candi’s file for the hundredth time. Bruises, cuts, the broken screen door, the shattered lamp.
Candace Tina Brooks,
said the tidy label on the side. So formal, so cold.

Exhausted, he leaned back and rubbed his face with both hands.

It was Sunday morning and the substation was so quiet, he could hear a pin drop. He was the only deputy on duty, which wasn’t unusual. But the eerie silence was. Even the phone that usually rang off the hook on the weekends was still. The only sound that was keeping him from going completely nuts was the occasional crackly voice coming through the radio in the corner. But even that was quieter than normal.

Looking at the desk again, he poked at the lighter that had been sitting there for the last few days. It seemed ridiculously out of place next to the files and sticky notes that scattered Koda’s work surface. Its gaudiness reminded him of Zane as a teenager, trying so hard to be tough, and eventually, after a lot of adolescent effort, succeeding.

Koda flicked it until it spun in a blur of gold. He didn’t know why he hadn’t given it back yet. Busy, he guessed. With everything going on, ensuring that his brother’s smoking habit went uninterrupted hadn’t been a priority. Zane must have left it at Candi’s during one of their jaunts. But it was strange that he hadn’t mentioned how it was missing, even in passing. He loved that stupid thing.

Koda’s cell phone rang, making him jump.

“Wolfe,” he barked into the phone, suddenly cranky.

“Koda, it’s McCay.”

Alan McCay was an OSP trooper, who’d also been a buddy since high school. He was one of the lead investigators on the Aimee Styles case, and despite what Maggie thought, had been working himself to the bone for the last twelve months.

Koda sat forward and switched the phone to his other ear. “Hey. I know you’re running ragged. How’s it going?” An avid outdoorsman, it was usually Alan who had the knowledge and expertise to lead the search parties when someone went missing on the mountain. More often than not, he was stretched paper-thin. It was a relentless, exhausting job. When Koda saw him these days, he looked worn around the edges, always of the verge of either snapping, or falling asleep in his chair.

“It’s going,” Alan said. “It’s going like you wouldn’t fucking believe.”

He had a mouth like a trucker. It was one of his endearing traits, depending on who you were talking to. He never said
Good morning.
Instead, it was usually
Good fucking morning,
with an emphasis on
fucking.

“Yeah?” Koda grinned, glad to hear his friend’s voice.

“I’m right around the corner. Wanted to see if you could use a coffee.”

“Always.”

“Copy that. Be there in five.”

When he walked in the door a few minutes later, he carried a steaming cup and shoved it at Koda unceremoniously.

“Thanks.” Koda wiped a few drops from the lid and motioned for him to sit.

“Can’t stay,” Alan said, leaning against Koda’s desk. His short brown hair was a little messy. His face, more tan than usual. He looked fit in his dark navy uniform, like he’d been working out. But all the mountain work probably accounted for that. “I heard about Candi. Saw her last week. Stopped in the café to grab a quick bite. Jesus. Is she okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Koda said, leaning back in his chair. “It could have been worse.”

“Well, yeah. I guess if she was dead, it could have been,” he said. “I asked her out again, you know. Turned me down cold. Guess she’s still into your brother. I gotta tell you, I don’t know what the fuck she sees in him.”

Koda felt a familiar rush of protectiveness for Zane. Because this was Alan, he bit his tongue. But most people who were stupid enough to say anything about his brother in person, would have ended up with a fist in the face.

“How are
you?”
Alan asked, as if sensing he’d overstepped a bit. “I hear you’re getting hot and heavy with the Sullivan girl. That true?”

Koda scratched his jaw. He’d expected word would spread, but it was still faster than usual. Zane had been furious last night, and even though Koda didn’t believe in all that vengeful mountain-man bullshit, he could understand where his little brother was coming from. He knew without question that it wasn’t a good idea to be fanning the flames with Maggie Sullivan. He’d certainly never intended for this to happen. But the truth was, he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her. There was something about Maggie. Something that, despite the stubborn tilt to her chin, was incredibly fragile. And that was something he’d always been the worst kind of sucker for.

“I don’t know that hot and heavy is how I’d put it.” Actually, it kind of was, but Alan didn’t need to know that. “She came here looking for some answers and I’ve agreed to help as much as I can. Within reason.”

“Help
with
or with
out
her panties on?”