Untamed Force (Force of Nature Series) (13 page)

Rich cleaned himself up in the pond that
he’d come across earlier that day. He needed to go into town this evening and
get a few things. One of which was a place to stay. He was tired of staying in
the cave and wanted some of the luxuries that he’d had to give up when…well,
when Austin came to bother him.

He’d come to the realization that
Georgia Reynolds had been having an affair with Force all along. That was why
she’d so readily gone with him and now stayed with him. And Force had her in
some sort of compulsion mind hold. She no more wanted to stay with Force than
she’d wanted to leave Rich’s pack. That’s the reason she’d left, not anything
at all to do with her mate being killed.

Rich tried to think how her mate had
been killed. There had been a mix-up at one point, but he had no idea what it
had been about. Tim, he remembered now, had been with him and he remembered
there had been blood. But not a great deal, but… Rich rubbed his forehead and tried
to think. But the harder he tried, the more it hurt.

After an hour of lying down, he started
into town. He had only a little money, not the sum of money he’d had, though.
Again, he had a hard time trying to think where he’d used it. Harvey usually took
care of these things and now he was being an ass and Rich didn’t have his help
to keep track. He walked the nearly two miles in what he thought was record
time at four hours. Rich went into the first shop he came to.

“Burnt it to the ground, they said. Nearly
had that lawyer of theirs burned up too. Worst thing in history here
since…well, can’t remember when.”

Rich looked over at the two men standing
at the counter and tried to listen to what they were saying as well as find
some of the items on his list.

“You remember a few years back there,
Tom, when that little kid, what was his name, burned that shed up that belonged
to the lady on that road at the other end of town?” Rich stared at the two men
and, when the other nodded, Rich tried to decipher what had been said. “Well,
that was bad too, but all that got burned up then was a few hoes and a
lawnmower that probably hadn’t started since her kid lit out for greener
pastures.”

Rich moved away from them. It was that
or he was going to have to have them explain what they were talking about and
he’d been trying hard not to make himself known. He could see that there was a
diner of sorts in the back, so he went there. Three televisions were blaring
some game on them while the one right behind the bar had the news on. And, oh
wow, it was about the Force household.

“…earlier this morning and, now that the
fire crew is gone, you can see what a devastation it is. Connor Force has been
on the police department for nearly five years and has recently, along with his
brother and another retired police officer, opened their own agency. Mr. Force,
along with his family, had this to say about the fire and his loss.”

“I want to thank all those who came out
to help the fire department. It was nice to see the community gather together
in times of need. I don’t know who would set such a fire, but I’m very glad
that I was able to save some of my more precious memories by having them in the
car instead of the house.”
He looked right at the camera as he continued.
“I
hope that the person who did this is aware of what happens to people who burn
other people's property.”

Rich looked around, sure that this Force
was right here with him. He wasn’t just a little afraid, but terrified that the
male had full knowledge as to who had burned him out. And worst yet, he’d
gotten the wrong Force to boot.

Connor Force, not Austin, and a cop too.
Now what? Rich moved out of the little diner, suddenly very afraid. He nearly
yelped when someone dropped something on the floor beside him. He moved out of
the shop completely and was nearly down the street when he realized that he
still needed a place to stay. Turning to the first little house he saw, he
walked up to the door and opened it.

He decided that he’d either have a place
to stay in this house, which he found highly unlikely, or he’d simply make it
his house to stay in. Either way, he had a hidey hole. As soon as the elderly
woman came from the kitchen drying her hands Rich decided that he didn’t want
to negotiate and reached out to her and snapped her neck. A check of the rest
of the house showed that he was alone. There was no one else in the house but a
big tom cat which, once he showed it what he was, took off like its tail was on
fire.

He turned on the television after taking
her body to the basement and stuffing her into the chest freezer. Of course he
made sure that he’d taken all the food out of it first and brought it up the
stairs to stash in the smaller freezer. The woman fit nicely and he was thawing
out three steaks as he tried to figure out the remote on the television. She
didn’t even have cable. And the local news was still going on and on about the
game he’d seen at the diner, as well as small snippets of the fire.

After frying up the steaks and baking
four potatoes in the microwave he settled into the big recliner in the living
room. As he drifted off he smiled. Tomorrow he’d go back to the house he’d
burned and see if he could find more information about Austin. Then he’d kill
this Connor person as well.

~~~

Dallas watched as Phil was being grilled
by Austin. He thought if he asked the vampire once more if he was sure who had
burned the house down he might attack him too. Phil leaned back in his chair
and smiled.

“You ask me if I’m sure again and I will
give you details about the sex your sister and I had right before I came here. I
can go into so many details that—”

“No. Damn it. I just want to be sure. If
I go to the council and tell them that I think it was him then they will only
tell me to bide my time. I want this prick gone before he hurts someone else.” Austin
sat down finally. “You have no idea how badly I feel because Connor lost his
house. I taunted the man and now this. This is entirely my fault.”

“No, it wasn’t. Not entirely. The man
would have come to you sooner or later. He had to know that you were the men
standing there that morning and now he can’t find his brother, and his pack,
what little there was of it, is gone as well.” Dallas got up to get a few beers
as he continued. “Besides, if you hadn’t gone there and gotten his money these
people would be still suffering and, worse yet, no telling how many more of
them would be dead.”

They drank in quiet. Dallas looked over
at Phil and smiled. “Would you have really given details of your sex life to
him if he hadn’t shut up?” Phil nodded then shook his head. “I thought so. Holly
would have staked you.”

“Probably. She can be a bit…violent when
the mood strikes her.” Phil laughed. “What about you and Stacy? Any plans for
the future yet?”

“We’re still getting to that. You do
remember that I have about two hundred people in my house right now, don’t you?
We’ve not even been able to…the bed is being used for sleeping and not much
more.” Phil laughed and Dallas grinned. “Laugh it up, mosquito. Some of us don’t
have the luxury of having a house as big as a hotel.”

“Hey, I offered. But it seems they’re a
mite skittish of sleeping in a house with a vampire. I tried to tell them that
I wouldn’t feed from them, but no one was willing to try. I’ll have to win them
over with my charm, I suppose.”

Dallas rolled his eyes and looked up at
Austin when he cleared his throat.

“If you two are done bonding I’d like to
get back to the issue we have here.” Austin sat down again. Dallas wondered if
he realized how much he’d been pacing over the past several days. “We have
enough money here for several packs. I’m not saying we won’t use some of it to
build and to make us a better pack, but I think I’d like to set up some of the
money so that it’ll go back to the families that have come from him. Sort of a
trust fund or something.”

Phil nodded. “I can set that up for you.
You might want to keep some of it back and use it for educational purposes too.
College is expensive and you could run a scholarship program for all the pack.”

The phone ringing had them looking at
each other then at the phone again. So far, lately, there had not been a great
deal of good news coming from the thing. Austin got up to answer it and Dallas
knew immediately who had called.

“Yes, this is Austin Force.” A pause and
then a bark of laughter. “Yes, Sterling, I have your pack and a damn fine one
it is too.”

Phil got up, looked at the caller ID,
and wrote down the number. When he handed it to Dallas he nearly burst out
laughing. The idiot was calling from the local grocery store that he’d
programmed into the phone only yesterday for his mom to get supplies she’d
needed.

“I’ll be back. I have to—” A hand on his
shoulder from Austin kept Phil from leaving.

“No, Sterling, I’m not afraid of you,
but if you harm one more person, human or anyone else, I will be the one
hunting and you’ll be the one that’s dead. And know this, a trial will be the
least of your problems.” Austin hung up and stood there for several seconds. Neither
he nor Phil said a word until Austin went to the refrigerator, took out another
bottle of beer, and sat down.

“I could have gone there and taken him
out. No one would have been the wiser about it.” Phil looked over at him when
Austin didn’t speak. “What’s up with him?”

“He has two of my pack, he said. And
since I don’t know if he means mine or his, I can’t reach out to them.”

Dallas was afraid for his mate and
reached for her.

“
I am fine. I have something to tell
you, but not this way. Where are you now?”
He told her.
“I will arrive
shortly. There has been another killing, but not one of us this time. A human
woman entered a house she was to clean and a man fitting my father’s
description ran out the back. She was only able to tell the police what he
looked like before dying from a knife to the chest. It looks as if he was
having a meal and has stolen clothes. He left his prints as well as his
clothing behind for evidence.”

Dallas told his brother and Phil. “It
sounds as if he’s getting sloppy. Not that he has given much indication that he
was overly smart anyway, but leaving DNA as well as prints everywhere means he’s
not thinking.”

Austin nodded and Phil stood. “I’m going
to the house where the woman was killed. Maybe I can find out something more
than they have knowledge of. And before you ask, I will only go to the store if
I’m sure he’s gone. I want him dead, but if he has people hidden away I want to
find them as badly as you do.”

He was suddenly gone. Dallas looked at
his brother and knew the man was suffering. This was overwhelming to him and he
wasn’t as much in charge as Austin. When he spoke Dallas knew that he was
nearing his end at dealing with this in the proper channels.

“I want more patrol around the houses as
well as the perimeter. This man has gone from being an irritant to being an all-out
pain in my ass.” Dallas pulled out the small notebook he always had and began
writing things down. “Double up on the houses that we’ve got the other pack in
and bring in another doctor. I heard from CJ that a few of the families not
used to having meat are sick. Also, see what you can do about getting someone
here that can evaluate where the children are educationally.”

Dallas looked up. “Education? Shouldn’t
we be worried more on housing and getting this prick taken care of than what
grade little Sally should be in?”

He flushed when Austin looked at him
angrily. But Austin didn’t yell at him, simply took a deep breath before
answering.

“
I
need this. I need something I
can control right now and education seems the easiest to take care of. I need
to do something that feels like I’m making a difference in their lives and not
keeping them in homes with people they don’t know eating food they aren’t
familiar with and getting sick.” Austin looked out the window. “A few of the
children are staying at our home. One of the little boys was terrified of me
when I raised my voice to the television when I was watching a game the other
night.”

“They’re terrified of me too. Stacy said
they aren’t used to having big men be kind to them. I’m sorry, Austin. I’ll do
whatever you need for me to do.” Austin nodded. “What are we going to do with
all this money? We can’t simply not tell anyone about it. Someone is going to
start asking questions when we pay cash for things we couldn’t before.”

“Phil said he had that under control. Something
about a long lost relative leaving us with a great deal of money. Since there
are six of us, including mom, we can bring in a great deal and only have to pay
inheritance tax on it. I’m not sure of the details, but he said it would work.”
Austin looked around the room. “We have to make this work, Dallas. This is what
we wanted since we moved here and started our own pack.”

Dallas nodded. He was right, they did
want to grow, but he doubted that either of them thought it would be like this.
Thinking back he’d thought of maybe a couple hundred wolves or less. As it was,
right now they had over three hundred and growing. He grinned when he looked at
Austin again.