Laurel fought smiling at her sister. Ellie could always brighten her outlook, even during the darkest moments of their lives.
“Jeesh,” Ellie continued, “he burned the breakfast he was fixing—and just the fact he was cooking breakfast should clue you in that he’s a keeper. It was killing him that he had to run to take care of the dangerous mess before he had a fire on his hands and couldn’t stop you from leaving. You know when he heard us shut the door, he had to have been really shook up. He probably would have carried you off to bed and made it up to you right after that if I hadn’t been there.”
“He didn’t tell me about the skeleton, Ellie! Don’t you get it? He didn’t want me delaying a mating with him last night! He might not have wanted to upset me, sure, but it was the business of the mating that makes the difference.” Laurel’s cell rang and she saw that it was CJ. Her heart skipped a couple of beats. She couldn’t help it. She really did love the wolf.
Ellie glanced at her. “If it’s CJ, answer it.”
Laurel gave her sister a dark look. She wasn’t going to ignore him. She was far too alpha for that. “What?” she snapped at CJ.
Ellie smiled.
“I’m sending the official police report to you, but I’ll give you a brief synopsis.” He told her about the skeleton found in the pit. The skeleton was a male. Instantly, she felt her eyes fill with tears.
She was relieved that it hadn’t been their aunt, but she still felt bad that someone else had come to such a gruesome end. She thought again about CJ and how it could have been him. She quickly wiped away tears. Before her sister got the wrong idea, Laurel held her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “The skeleton didn’t belong to our aunt.”
“Thank God for that.” Ellie sounded as relieved as Laurel was.
“This is what we’re looking for now. A man who was wearing this diamond stickpin,” CJ said, sending her a photo of the jewelry.
“Mr. Wernicke,” Laurel said, barely getting his name out. “There’s a picture of him standing in front of the hotel with a lot of other folks. It appeared to have been his grand opening.”
“Are you sure?”
“They had a close-up photo of him.”
“Hell, if the pin is his and he was wearing it at the time of his death, then that was him in the pit. I’m on my way over to your place. I spoke with Jacob, and he said he’d meet me there so we could look over your aunt’s furniture.”
Laurel should have suspected that CJ wouldn’t take her at her word. “All right. We’re just pulling up at the house now. Ellie’s going to go to the hotel. Trevor and Meghan are taking care of it for now. I’ll see you in a few—” She raised her brows to see CJ’s truck pull in beside Ellie’s car. “Now.”
Ellie shook her head. “He’s your mate, and you’re his. Looks to me like he’s not letting you go. That’s a good sign. I’ll see you later. Oh, and you’re not planning on keeping your mating secret, are you?”
“I doubt it’s a secret any longer.”
“Good. I’m telling Meghan before she gets pissed off because she’s the last to know. You think you have it rough with CJ. You don’t want to offend Meghan over this.” Ellie hopped out of the car. “Later.” She gave CJ a small smile.
He looked like he was in the doghouse, which was infinitely worse than anything a wolf could imagine. Wolves were not dogs.
Laurel almost took pity on him, but she wanted him to realize how underhanded she felt he’d been last night.
Ellie hurried off, crunching through the snow when CJ shifted his attention to something in the drifts. Laurel glanced down to see what he saw. Wolf prints.
“Who was running around your property as a wolf last night?” he asked, sounding accusatory.
“I was with you last night. How would I know?”
“Someone was. And you have human guests.”
He crouched down and looked closer. “Definitely a wolf’s from the size and shape.” He followed the tracks, while Laurel hurried after him, until they reached the street that had been recently plowed. “Looks like the wolf ran along the road after that. Then the snowplow scraped the rest of the paw prints away.”
“Or the wolf got into a vehicle and drove off.”
“Right.”
Jacob drove up in his electrician’s van and greeted them both. “You needed me to look at some furniture for hidden compartments? Every carpenter has his own method. That’s what makes them truly secret.”
“Thanks, Jacob, for coming over on such short notice,” CJ said.
“No trouble at all for the Silvers and their mates.” Jacob smiled at Laurel.
Great. She so hoped that Meghan hadn’t heard from Trevor that she was mated to CJ.
Before they reached the house, she heard the sunroom door slam and saw Meghan headed her way, red-faced.
“Why don’t the two of you go in and take a look at the furniture? They’re the highboy without any drawers and the blanket chest sitting in the middle of the living room. I’ll be inside in a moment.”
The two men headed inside as Laurel steeled herself for Meghan next.
Meghan frowned at Laurel and stalked right past her!
Laurel hurried after her. “What’s wrong?” She was afraid her sister intended to slug CJ, when Laurel and CJ had to work out their own differences. She didn’t want her sisters’ or anyone else’s interference.
“One of the Wernicke brothers and Trevor are having a disagreement. I thought your mate could help out.”
Just great. All Laurel needed was trouble with the Wernicke brothers right now.
“All right. I’ll tell him. Wait, you tell him and I’ll head over there. You stay here with Jacob and see what he learns about the secret compartments in the furniture.”
Laurel hurried off to the hotel, and when she reached it, she heard the door to the house slam. “Hold up!” CJ called out to her. As if he was going to be her knight when she was perfectly fine on her own. And she had to let him know that right away. She wasn’t some little beta wolf he had gone and mated.
She headed inside but before she shut the door, she heard him racing across the snow to catch up to her. She smiled a little, shut the door, and hurried to reach the main room where Stanton and Trevor were arguing.
Ellie was on the phone, standing behind the check-in counter taking a reservation and typing away at the computer.
“All I said was we wanted our reservations extended because we know there’s more time available and…” Stanton stopped speaking when he saw Laurel enter the room.
“I already told you it was booked,” Laurel said.
“And I already told you that the hotel belongs to us.”
She folded her arms. “Do you have proof?”
“We do. We’ve sent for it.”
She didn’t believe him. She felt CJ draw close to her, smelled his sexy scent, felt the heat of his body, and in that instant, no matter how crazy the thought was, she wanted him to pull her into his arms and give her a hug.
“We heard a body—or skeleton, I should say—was found in the woods. Was it our aunt or uncle? Her aunt? When do we get to ID the body?” Stanton asked.
“That might be kind of difficult, given that only a male skeleton was found. We’re awaiting official verification on who the individual was,” CJ said.
“Where exactly was it found?”
“In the woods. But the area is a crime scene for now. So no access to civilians. You wouldn’t happen to have ever hunted prey using a deadfall trap, would you have? Or your brothers?” CJ asked.
Stanton smiled a little at him. “Like now I’m a suspect? Or my brothers are? Anything to ensure the MacTires keep our rightful property? It won’t work.”
“The hotel has been sitting vacant for years. Why come now and try to lay claim to it? Because it’s newly renovated? Because you couldn’t have managed it on your own? Or because now it has some value?” CJ asked.
“Hell, we could have fixed the place up on our own
and cut the cost of renovation in half. First, we didn’t know our aunt and uncle had owned it. And once we learned they had and then disappeared, we were so busy with our successful TV show that we didn’t have time to prove we owned it.”
“And before, it wasn’t worth a whole lot and now it is? Besides, it wouldn’t have been free and clear for you to just take over anyway,” CJ said, bringing both issues up again.
She suspected the same. Maybe they realized that it could be a profitable venture after all, even if they had to pay for the hotel like she and her sisters had.
Stanton shook his head. “Fine. I’ll talk with the sheriff.” He and his brothers stalked out of the hotel.
“He’s got to realize he’s not getting anywhere with Darien running the pack and the town,” Trevor said, “unless it benefits the rest of us.”
“They must not be with a pack. Stanton is used to throwing his weight around with his proverbial TV stardom,” Laurel said. “Prima donna.”
“I had an idea worth exploring if you want to talk about it. But I wanted to see if Jacob made any progress on the furniture.” CJ appeared hopeful that she’d give him a break.
She noticed that Ellie had ended her phone conversation and was waiting expectantly to see how this played out between Laurel and CJ.
“Anything I should know about?” Trevor asked.
“Not really. I just had some notion where we could look next,” CJ said. “Hey, by the way, have you experienced anything ghostly in the attic room?”
Trevor straightened and said, “No, nothing. Why?”
CJ nodded, but he was smiling just a little bit. Laurel took CJ’s hand and pulled him in the direction of the sunroom and the back door. He immediately tightened his hold on her hand, and she appreciated that he wanted to make amends, despite how she had reacted earlier.
“I’m sorry about last night.” CJ looked down at her with such compassion, she knew he was being honest about this.
“You did what you thought best. I’m sorry the skeleton was there, but I’m glad it wasn’t my aunt. What did you have in mind?”
He smiled down at her as they walked outside into the brisk, cold breeze.
“About the investigation,” she reminded him.
His smile broadened.
She chuckled, freed her hand, and wrapped her arm around his waist to get closer. “I think my sisters were mostly irritated with me for being upset with you.”
“Did I mention how much I love your sisters?” CJ wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “All of the boxes containing my dad’s personal effects are stored in Eric’s basement. I’ll call him, and you and I can go through what we can, if you want. None of us ever looked through the stuff. Just boxed it up and stored it down there. I doubt we’ll find anything of importance, but it’s worth taking a look.”
With tears in her eyes, Laurel pulled him to a stop. “This has to be really difficult for you. But yes, even if we can’t find anything among his things, that will be one place we can cross off our list.”
He lifted her face. “I want you to know I only thought of checking through my dad’s things this morning when I was making breakfast. Then other business sidetracked us this morning.”
“I understand completely.” But Laurel knew going through his dad’s stuff had to bother the brothers. They’d just boxed everything up instead of sorting through and getting rid of some of it, while keeping treasured mementos at their homes. CJ’s words spoke volumes. The brothers hadn’t been able to deal with their father’s belongings or his betrayal.
“Thank you. You can’t know how much that means to me.”
“We might not find anything. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”
That wasn’t what made the gesture so incredibly important to her. “Thank you.”
They walked into the house, and Jacob shook his head. “I’ve checked both pieces of furniture thoroughly. I couldn’t find any hidden compartments. They don’t have any.”
Disappointed, Laurel thanked him.
“Did you want Jacob and me to move the furniture someplace else?” CJ asked, since the chest and highboy were just sitting in the middle of their living room and in the way.
“The guest room, if you don’t mind.” Laurel hugged Meghan, who gave her a warm embrace back.
“We’ll learn the truth,” Meghan assured her.
“We’re going to Eric’s house to look through some boxes of stuff,” Laurel said.
“Boxes?”
“Sheridan’s personal effects.”
Her expression sympathetic, Meghan glanced at CJ. “Okay. What did you want me to do in the meantime?”
“Look through all those photos again and see if you recognize our aunt in any of them. But show CJ and Jacob where to put the furniture first. I need to pack a couple of bags.”
Meghan smiled brightly. “You’re staying with CJ tonight?”
“That’s usually the way it goes.”
Meghan was still smiling when she went with the men to show them where to take the furniture.
Laurel saw CJ’s pleased expression before she ran up the stairs and entered her bedroom. She had nearly finished packing the second bag when she heard footfalls on the stairs and looked up to see CJ entering her room.
“Can I help you with packing?” The tension in his body gone, he looked relieved that she was packing some of her things so she could stay with him. She had to admit that moving out felt weird when her sisters were staying behind.
“No thanks. I’ve got it. Did you get ahold of Eric?”
“Yeah. He’s going to meet us there and help us sort through the stuff.”
“It’s not going to be too upsetting for you both, is it?”
“No. It’s way past time to do this. Brett and Sarandon will be by a little later. We’re going to discard what no one wants, and if anyone wants any of it, we’ll sort it out.”
“All right.” She finished packing and CJ took the bags.
“Meghan sure seemed glad to see that you are moving out.”
Laurel smiled. “Only because I’m not fighting with you and I’m not going to uproot them again. But I have to say that each of my sisters has always been delighted about moving. Until we settled here. It just feels like home. Like we belong. I don’t know how it could when our aunt went missing from here.”
“It’s the pack.”
“Yes. And the town. But especially you.”
CJ put her bags down and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry for not telling you about the skeleton last night. I love you, Laurel. I don’t want anything to come between us.”
She hugged him tight. “I just want to learn the truth and put this behind us. Especially if someone in the pack murdered her, and he or she is still here.”
CJ kissed her mouth. “Agreed.”
“After we look through the boxes, would you mind if we visited the pit where you fell?”
“We can do that. We haven’t eaten yet. Did you want to do that first?”
“Okay, we can drop my bags at your place…”
“Our place.”
She smiled a little. “Haven’t gotten used to that idea yet. Or I could make something here.”
“My place.”
She suspected he wanted a little privacy.
“What are you thinking concerning the pit?” He carried her bags downstairs, and she followed him.
“I don’t know how to explain it. But ever since I learned that you’d been injured there, then the skeleton was found, and the white wolf had visited you as if to see if you were all right, I’ve had this compelling urge to go there. What if the white wolf is hanging around the area?”
“If we manage to fall into the pit, he might come check us out. But I seriously doubt, as elusive as he is, that he’ll freely come to us. He didn’t even howl for help.”
“That could be because no one would know his howl. Don’t you think?”
“Could be.”
They found Meghan in th
e dining room, sifting through the photos. “Did you pay Jacob for his time?” Laurel asked, realizing he’d already left.
“No need. He’s gone, but he said he wished he could have found a false bottom or something to help us. He said if we have any trouble with any electrical wiring, just give him a call and he’ll be right over.”
“Thanks, Meghan. I’ll call you later if we locate anything.”
“Same here.”
Laurel hoped they’d find something in Sheridan’s effects to help them, and yet she hoped they wouldn’t if it proved he had anything to do with their aunt’s disappearance.
Chapter 19
CJ had every intention of making up to Laurel for last night and this morning after he’d burned their breakfast. He wanted to make a fresh start.
When they got to his house, he turned off the security alarm right away. Before he could even carry her bags up to the bedroom, Laurel began removing her clothes. She was only ditching her coat, gloves, and hat—winter weather gear—but the way she was doing it had him intrigued and smiling.
She dumped them on the carpeted living room floor, piece by piece, not hanging her hat or coat on the coatrack. She yanked off one snow boot and then the other as she continued on her way upstairs to the master bedroom.
He thought she might just be planning to change into her cute, fuzzy slipper boots while they ate lunch. But something about the way she was moving, her hips swaying a bit, and the way she was tossing her clothes in a flirtatious manner indicated she was being her playful self again. Only this time with sexual overtones.
Carrying her bags, he followed behind her, stopping when she paused to pull off one sock and then the other, tossing them over her shoulder in a come-hither way. One bounced off his chest, the other off his crotch, his cock already swelling with interest. “Are you leaving a trail for me?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “If you hurry, you might get something.”
He had planned to make love to her after they had something to eat and before they went to Eric’s house. But this worked even better.