SizzlingInsanity (16 page)

“I think it has to do with the true mate bond,” Connor said.
“Can’t you both feel it?”

True mate bond? Was he serious? It wasn’t very often that a
werewolf found their true mate, but if they did they would bond for life, they
could feel the other, sense what they were thinking, feeling. Because it was
hard to find your true mate, most werewolves gave up and mated someone without
the bond being present.

Surely that couldn’t happen to her? She was a half-breed,
after all.

Yet she could feel them inside her. Like a piece of them was
inside her, merged with her. She gasped.

“This can’t be possible, can it?”

Cade frowned at her. “What were you expecting? We told you
that you were our mate.”

“But I thought you were just talking about a normal mating.
I didn’t think you meant a true mate bond. They don’t happen that often and I
never thought I’d find my true mate, let alone have two. I’m a half-breed, how
is this possible?”

Connor shrugged. “Who knows? But it’s happened.”

“But the two of you deserve better than me. You deserve
someone who’s pure, not tainted like I am.”

She didn’t like the idea that they might one day come to
resent her. At least with a normal mating one of the pair was free to leave,
but with a true mating they would never be rid of her.

Connor grasped hold of her chin, not hurting her, but not
letting her move either.

“You listen to me. That is the last time I want to hear you
refer to yourself as anything less than perfect, understand me? You put
yourself down or dare to even think that we don’t want you and I will give you
a spanking you will not forget.”

“Then we’ll torture you with orgasm deprival until you’re
screaming,” Cade added with a frown. “You are not tainted and we do not deserve
better. If anything, we’re not good enough for you, but damned if we are ever
letting you go. So you listen to me right now. You are ours. Just like we’re
yours. There are no regrets, no turning back, no what ifs, understand me?”

She nodded, smiling. “You guys really do want me.”

“We love you, Shelby,” Connor told her.

“I think I’ve loved you almost since the moment I met you,”
Cade added. “Well maybe not right then—you did have a habit of hurting me.”

She grinned. “I love you guys too.”

They snuggled in on either side of her.

“My cousins will notice I’m gone soon.” In fact, she was
surprised they hadn’t come looking for her already. “I need to get down there
and talk to them.” She tried to sit up, but Connor pushed her gently back.

“Lie still for a while, you just woke up. When I’m sure
you’re feeling up to it, we’ll all go down and talk to them together.”

“I could go down now and speak to them,” Cade offered. “The
two of you could stay here.”

“No,” Connor said at the same time she did.

She shared a grin with him while Cade sighed.

“I can be tactful,” he protested.

“I just think we should all go speak to them together. It seems
more respectful to do it that way,” she said, trying to placate him.

“And you’re worried I’m going to be too blunt and tell them
we fucked you and that you’re ours.”

Yeah, that too.

* * * * *

Connor and Cade stepped into Sam’s office. His assistant, Daniel,
wasn’t there to run interference for once.

Sam glanced up at them with a smile. “Hello, been awhile
since I’ve seen you two.”

“Should you be up?” Connor asked as he took a seat at Sam’s
invitation. Cade chose to lean against the mantel above the fire.

“I’m fine. Irritated, angry, but fine.”

His arm was still in a sling. The bullet had grazed his
shoulder.

“What can I do for the two of you?”

Connor knew he had to tread carefully. Although Shelby fully
believed that Sam had murdered her mother, he wasn’t so sure. He was a good
judge of character and he just didn’t believe that Sam had it in him to kill a
woman in cold blood.

But if not Sam then who had killed Annabeth?

“It’s about the woman we found spying.”

“Oh yes, what was she up to? Have you figured it out?”

“Yes,” he paused, unsure how to continue. Unfortunately, he
waited too long and Cade spoke up.

“Did you murder Annabeth?” Cade asked bluntly.

“What?” Sam looked at them both in shock, his face pale. If
he was acting then he deserved an Oscar. “How the hell can you ask me that?”

“Because someone did and the last person she apparently saw
was you,” Connor said.

“What? Do you mean it? Annabeth is dead? I thought she was
somewhere, raising kids, living happily ever after.”

Sam looked sick and for a moment Connor was worried he was
going to pass out.

“Wait, I was the last person to see her? How can that be?”
He ran a shaking hand over his face. “I just can’t believe it. You’re sure
she’s dead?”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Cade asked.

“Well, it was over twenty years ago. The last time we met at
the cabin, I thought everything was fine. But then out of the blue she calls me
and tells me things are off. That we were too different to be together. I tried
to find her, to talk to her but it was like she had disappeared.”

“How many years ago?” Cade asked.

“Well, it would have been twenty-two years.”

Connor frowned, staring at his brother. That was two years
before Annabeth had actually died.

“So Annabeth broke things off with you?” Cade asked him.

“She wouldn’t talk to me or answer my calls. Her family
wouldn’t let me see her. I didn’t want to give up but I had no other way of
reaching her. I was devastated.”

“Did you ever speak to her family?” Connor asked.

“Her brother. He told me that she didn’t want to see me and
the best thing I could do was leave her alone. You can’t seriously think I
would kill the woman I loved.”

“Someone did and we’re going to find out who,” Cade told
him.

Connor leaned forward in his chair. “Didn’t you think it odd
that she broke things off so suddenly?”

“Of course I did. I was upset, furious, but not enough to
kill her.”

“You were just beginning your career, weren’t you?” Cade
spoke coldly. “Annabeth was a temporary fling anyway, she’d never fit into your
lifestyle.”

“You listen, you little shit. I loved Annabeth. I would have
done anything for her. I was even going to pull out of politics for her.”

“You were?” Connor asked. “That was a big move.”

“I loved her,” Sam said furiously. “She was my world. I’d
have done anything for her.”

Connor believed him. There was no subterfuge that he could
detect. But if Sam hadn’t killed Annabeth then who had?

“What happened to her?” Sam asked, pain evident on his drawn
face. “How did she die?”

Connor thought for a long moment about how much to tell him.
But if he hadn’t killed her then he deserved to know, and if he had, well, he
already knew.

“She was found with her throat slit.”

Sam drew in a sharp breath. “Oh God.”

“Twenty years ago.”

Sam looked at him in confusion. “Wait, what? I thought you
said I was the last to see her? I don’t understand. It has definitely been more
than twenty years since I last saw her.”

“The reason you could never find her is because she moved
away. Somebody convinced Annabeth to break things off with you. They had her
believing that she wasn’t good enough for you. After that, she moved away for
two years. A few days after she came back she was murdered.”

“What? Who said that to her?”

“We don’t know. That’s all she said in her diary,” Connor
told him. “We wondered if you had any idea.”

Shelby had let him bring along her mother’s diary, along
with all the mementos her mother had kept.

Sam shook his head. “I don’t know. Why would anyone do
this?”

“Did anyone else know you were pulling out of politics?”
Connor asked.

“Ahh, yes, my assistant and my campaign manager.”

“Was it the same assistant you have now?” Cade asked,
staring at the door that led to the other office.

“Yes, but Daniel couldn’t have done this. Neither of them
would have.”

Connor wasn’t so sure.

“I can’t believe she’s dead.”

“The day before she was killed, Annabeth received a note.
Supposedly from you.”

Connor handed him the note Annabeth had kept.

Sam read the note then looked up at them in confusion. “I
never wrote this, I never met her at the cabin. I just don’t understand any of
this.”

“According to her diary Annabeth returned because she missed
you, she wanted to see you again. She said she thought about calling you but
she was too nervous, so she sent you a letter. This is the note she received in
return. She went to the cabin to meet you and she never came home. Her brother
found her later that night in the forest with her throat slit.”

“Oh my God.” Sam looked ready to throw up. He stared at them
both. “I didn’t do this. I could never have hurt her.”

“According to her brother, he could smell you on her. How
can you explain that?”

He shook his head. “I can’t. Christ, I just can’t believe
it. She wanted to be with me, she went to the cabin thinking I would meet her
there and someone killed her. But she wasn’t found at the cabin?”

“No, she was found about a mile to the west. They could have
carried her there. Her brother detected another male’s scent, but it was faint
and he didn’t recognize it.”

“Would he recognize it now?”

“He’s dead,” Cade said bluntly.

“Well, how do I prove that I didn’t kill her? My
handwriting? You could test it against this note.”

“Maybe, however handwriting can change over the years,” Cade
told him. “Have you got something written from twenty years ago?”

“I don’t know.” Sam glanced through the diary, his hand
shaking. “Wait, this date. The one she says she received the note asking her to
meet me at the cabin—that’s the day before my mother’s birthday. I always go
home to see my mom for a few days. I wouldn’t have been here when that note was
sent.”

“Can you prove it?”

“What? I don’t know. I might be able to find my old diary or
something. I can get Daniel looking into it.”

“No,” Cade said firmly. “You can’t trust him. At the moment
you don’t talk to anyone about this but us. Who knew about that cabin besides
the two of you?”

“Well, the builder, but he never knew what it was going to
be used for. He was in his fifties back then, I don’t even know if he’s still
alive.”

“Anyone else?”

“Well, Daniel but he’s been with me forever—”

“And did anyone know about you and Annabeth?”

“No.” Sam shook his head. “We kept that quiet.”

“But Daniel is close to you—he could have found out,
couldn’t he?” Cade persisted. “What reason did you give him for giving up
politics?”

Sam sighed and ran his hand over his face. “I told Daniel
and my campaign manager that I’d met someone and I wanted to focus on our
relationship.”

“So they both knew that it was because of a woman and if one
of them hadn’t wanted you to quit, they might have thought getting rid of her
would mean you’d change your mind.”

Sam stood up and paced. “That’s kind of far-fetched isn’t
it?”

“The alternative is that you killed her,” Cade told him.

Sam glared at him. “Couldn’t there be someone else? What
about her family? Her pack?”

“Annabeth was well liked,” Connor said. “We’re certainly
investigating them, but there is nothing to indicate that anyone else was
involved. She died after going to meet with you. For some reason the killer
wanted to keep the two of you apart.”

“But why?” Sam asked.

“That’s what we have to figure out.”

“I’d say we have one definite suspect,” Cade told him.
“Someone who knew where the cabin was, who knew you were giving up politics,
who knew you would be away at your mother’s.”

“It wasn’t Daniel.”

“Who would have access to your mail? Annabeth sent a note
that you say you never received. It had to have been intercepted. Did anyone
else deal with your mail back then?”

Sam sat in the chair and placed his head in his hands. He
leaned his elbows on his desk. “You know damn well who. I just don’t understand
why he would do all this. Why would he harm Annabeth? Just because I was going
to pull out of politics? That doesn’t make sense.” He sat up then reached for
the diary that still sat on the desk. “Are you sure there is nothing in here? I
know Annabeth’s Alpha was against the pack being with humans, could he have
done this?”

“From what we know of Jack Masters, he’d have gone after
you, not Annabeth.”

“Can I keep her diary?” Sam asked. “Just to read it.”

Connor looked over at Cade. If he read the diary he would
find out about Shelby. Even though he didn’t believe Sam had killed Annabeth,
he wasn’t sure he was ready to tell him about Shelby. Besides, that should be
up to her. “Actually, the family wants it back.”

“Her family? I thought her brother was dead?”

“He has children,” Connor replied.

“Surely they won’t care if I keep it overnight.”

There was a noise from the other room.

“Sounds like Daniel is back.” Cade straightened up. “Maybe
it’s time we had a chat.”

Connor grabbed the diary. “I’ll talk to the family and see
what I can do.”

Sam stood, his face grim. “If you’re going to chat with
Daniel I want to be there.”

“That’s not really a good idea,” Connor said carefully. “Our
methods may seem a bit extreme to you.”

Sam waved that away. “I’m not some shrinking violet. If
Daniel did have something to do with Annabeth’s death then I want to know.”

Connor looked at Cade who shrugged.

“All right,” Connor agreed. “But you don’t talk, you don’t
interfere, you let us do our jobs.”