Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(63)

“I’ll have Tom and Peter check out the motel she was staying at. See if they can pick up any wolf scents. You stay here with Alicia,” Darien said.

“I can’t hide from him,” Alicia said. “I worry about your family.” She pointedly looked at Lelandi and her pregnant condition. “These men are ruthless.”

“You’re staying with us. You’re not going to act as bait,” Jake said, pointedly.

“What do you think we’re truly up against, Jake?” Darien asked. “You’ve seen some of these men.”

“The one who tried to force Alicia out of the restaurant was human. The one she shot on the hiking trail and the other with him were also humans. I don’t know about Mario. The air conditioner was blowing in the wrong direction for me to get a whiff of him. I never even considered he might be a wolf.” He paused and looked at Alicia. “You’re perfectly sure Ferdinand was the one who bit you and no one else?”

“He was the only one with me. When I came to, I’d been bitten. The two men who were interrogating him before they murdered him didn’t know I was there. I doubt another man—werewolf—was there, then conveniently disappeared after he had bitten me. Come to think of it, I did smell that a wolf had been in the room. At first, I thought it was just me. But all wolves give off a slightly different odor. I only got a whiff of the odor of decay from Ferdinand’s body since he’d been dead several hours before I could leave his apartment.”

“All right.” Jake considered the situation a moment more before speaking. “If Ferdinand Massaro was a wolf, then what about his brother, Danny?”

“They’re cousins to Mario,” Alicia explained.

“Then I’d say it’s very likely they could also be, but their henchmen are not,” Darien said. “I’ll make some inquiries into this Mario Constantino.”

Jake’s jaw tightened. Darien was the pack leader and it was his job to go after Mario, who was like the pack leader of a gang of thugs, whether he was a wolf or not. But Jake wanted to take Mario down. Call it the instinct to prove to his mate that he loved her, that he had the mettle and the intelligence necessary to take down the bastard who had threatened her, but he wanted to take more of a role in this.

Alicia’s gaze met his, and recognition dawned that he was feeling antsy about this whole situation. She said softly, “If you want to go and chase after the bad guys, I’ll understand.”

Then it hit him. He didn’t need to go after anyone. He needed to be right here—with her, for her. He wasn’t leaving her alone again.

He smiled evilly at her. “Last time you sent me away, you tore off without a word. That’s not happening again. Besides, like I said, I’m sticking by your side.”

She squeezed his hand in a way that said she was happy with his decision.

***

When the police from Crestview arrived to get Alicia’s story about the men breaking into her motel room and the one man’s death, they brought her purse and suitcase, for which she was grateful. They’d kept her gun, though, because she’d shot and killed one of the men who’d broken into her room.

She was more than nervous as Jake sat beside her in the great room filled with soft sofas and chairs enough for a big crowd. The room’s high, vaulted ceilings made it appear even more spacious, while more of Jake’s beautiful photographs adorned the walls. She wondered if he’d taken some of his photographs to the art gallery in Breckenridge because he’d run out of room in the house to hang any more.

Jake held her hand while Lelandi sat on the couch nearby, and Sheriff Peter, Darien, and Tom remained standing as they listened in.

Before the police detectives arrived, Jake had explained to Alicia how important it was to tell as much of the truth as she could to match the details of what the police might have uncovered without letting the werewolf tale out of the bag. She couldn’t help but be nervous as Jake’s family watched her, well aware that if she screwed this up and the police determined what really had happened, Jake and his brothers would most likely have to turn these detectives.

But she knew she must look as guilty as she felt about having to lie. Just as guilty as the people looked when she came for them as a bounty hunter with warrants for their arrest in hand.

Notebook and shining silver pen in hand, a dark-haired, mustached Detective Simpson now sat in a chair, leaning forward, intimidating, while his blond-haired, blue-eyed partner whose tie was just as blue, Detective Tandy, was standing nearby. Tandy had his hands shoved in pockets, his appearance solemn, trying for relaxed, but he was studying her every body movement, every hint of facial expression, waiting for her to give herself away before she even spoke.

Garnering her attention again, Detective Simpson said, “Tell us in your own words what happened exactly.” His voice was calm, but his posture denoted something else. He appeared ready to pounce if she said one thing that wasn’t in line with his view of the crime scene.

She swallowed hard, her hand clammy in Jake’s. He squeezed her hand lightly to reassure her. And instantly both men’s gazes refocused on Alicia and Jake’s clasped hands. She feared she would get nothing past them but the God’s honest truth. And that she couldn’t give.

“I… I was asleep when I heard someone trying to break into my room at the Crestview Motel. At first, I thought it was just a dream. I recalled someone was trying to unlock the door with a plastic card. I wasn’t sure what to do at first. But then I realized my gun was in my bag on the other side of the room. I rushed over to get it. When the man entered, using a flashlight to find his way, I was standing in a dark corner of the room. He saw the bed was empty and went into the bathroom. I heard him jerk the shower curtain aside.”