“No, because that girl had a family, and if they don’t find out that she’s dead, they’ll wonder forever, and that’s not fair to them.” She started to cry. “Brooks, I never killed anybody before.”
Avery looked at her, terrified. “None of that.”
“What?”
“You can’t start crying,” he said, looking around the room anxiously. “I have no tissues.”
She choked. “Are you joking about this?”
He fidgeted. “I’m sorry. But you didn’t mean to kill her. I know that you’ve never dealt with it, because your first transformation was here at the SF. But I killed the first time I shifted, and I had to forgive myself.”
“I know that.” She took a shaky breath.
“Seriously, Gray, it’s not your fault,” he said. “You were a wolf. It’s amazing you even remember it.”
She grimaced. “Oh, believe me, I wish I didn’t. The worst thing about all of it is how much I liked it. It was... literally the most awesome thing ever. The wolf loved it.”
“The wolf isn’t you,” said Avery.
“I’m not sure if that’s true anymore,” she said. “I think maybe I used to be able to shove it down, push it away. But now, it’s coming out more and more. It’s part of me. And I can’t get rid of it. I don’t even know if I want to get rid of it.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“I don’t want to kill anyone,” she said. “I don’t want to do that. But the wolf makes me feel alive in ways I never knew existed. And it makes me feel... connected. To everything.”
“You sound like Randall’s letters,” muttered Avery.
She rubbed her forehead. Was it just Cole, in her head, screwing with everything?
He crossed his arms. “One thing I don’t understand. Why were you at Randall’s house in the first place?”
So, she’d left that part out. She was embarrassed. “Um, it was a gross and disgusting urge that I gave in to.” There. At least he didn’t know that Cole had ordered her to do it, or that she’d been sneaking down to see Cole at night.
Avery made a face. “An urge?”
“Brooks, please,” she said.
“What kind of urge?”
She squirmed. “An urge. You know.” She inclined her head meaningfully.
Avery’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
She couldn’t look at him.
“Why his house?”
“I don’t know, it seemed... exciting.” She tugged at her sleeves. “Do we have to talk about that?”
“It’s just...” Avery became interested in his hands. “It keeps getting worse. First you’re attracted to him. But now it’s not only attraction, it’s like... you want him. And you did things with him.”
“Not really. We were wolves.”
“Yeah, and you just got done talking about how connected you are to your wolf,” he said. “I need to know how bad it is, Gray.”
“Why?”
“Because...” He looked at her. “Because I’m your partner, and I care about you. And I don’t want you to lose your job or make me lose mine. But if I’m going to protect you, I need you to be straight with me.”
She bit her lip. “I’ve been sneaking down to see him.”
“What?”
“I stole your access badge.”
He got up off the couch. “You’re kidding me.”
“I needed to ask him things,” she said. “About my wolf. About the case. And while I was there last time, he told me to go to his house and... do things.”
Avery was speechless. He stared at her with his mouth open. His face was getting red.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Maybe you should just report me to King and get it over with.”
“Maybe I should,” he said.
She nodded. “I’m really sorry, Brooks. I know that I’m desperately fucked up here.”
He lifted a hand. “Wait. Did he say anything? About the case?”
“He said that I was going to have to think more traditionally. And he knew that Tom’s father probably killed him. When I pushed on that, he did his best to distract me.”
Avery sat down on the couch. “Traditionally? And he knew about the dad. But there was nothing in the letters to indicate that Tom’s dad was going to kill him. How would he know?”
“I don’t know.”
Avery’s phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket. “Brooks here.” He paused, listening. He was quiet for a long time, only making “uh huh” noises occasionally. “Um, no, I don’t know where she is right now. I haven’t been able to reach her.... I will tell her that if I talk to her.” He hung up the phone.
“That was something about me,” said Dana. “You just lied about me.”
Avery took a breath. “Well, they tracked the rogue who bit Hollis to Cole Randall’s house.”
“What?” said Dana.
“Where they found her, dead and mutilated in his bedroom.”
Dana’s jaw dropped. “That was the same wolf?”
“Yes.”
She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh God. I told Cole about Hollis. He told me I didn’t have to worry about him anymore. And he knew I’d be at his house. He has to be behind this.”
“He’s locked up.”
“I don’t think that matters.”
“Gray, they caught your scent. They know that you killed the rogue. They’re looking for you,” he said.
“Why didn’t you tell them where I was?”
“I’m not selling you out like that,” he said.
She stood up. “I have to talk to Cole.”
“I think that’s the worst idea ever,” said Avery.
“He’s the only one who knows what’s going on.”
“If he knew you were going to be at his house, then he sent that rogue to kill you. He was obviously trying to finish the job he couldn’t.”
“No,” she said, “because he also had the rogue bite Hollis to protect me.” She started for Avery’s door.
“That doesn’t mean jack, Gray, and you know it. He’s a killer,” said Avery.
She opened the door. “I have to see him.”
“Is there anything I could say that would stop you?”
She shook her head.
He jammed his hands in his pockets, clearly annoyed. “Whatever you gotta do. I won’t tell them where you are.”
“Thanks, Brooks.”
“They’re going to figure out you’re down there with him eventually, you know. Try to get some actual information from him before they do, instead of just making eyes at him, huh?”
* * *
Cole was waiting behind the door when the guard opened it. When she entered, he grabbed her from behind and propelled the both of them up against the wall. Her cheek smashed against its cold smoothness. Cole’s body pressed against her. His mouth found the back of her neck. One hand on the curve of her waist. The other inside her shirt, against her bare flesh, traveling higher.
“Did you do it?” he whispered. “Did you kill her?”
Dana gasped into the cold wall. “Let me go.”
“Answer the question, beautiful.”
“Yes. Yes, I did it. Why did you set me up?”
“Did you like it?” His fingers moved the bottom band of her bra aside, brushing the soft underside of her breasts.
Dana choked. “Let go of me.”
“Answer the question.” He was teasing her nipples now, dancing back and forth between them.
She felt tight pleasure beginning to build inside her. Her breath was becoming labored. That felt very, very good. Goddamn him. “Stop, Cole.”
“Did you like it?” His other hand slid into her pants, under her panties.
She tried to fight it, but her body was responding. She felt hot all over. Her skin was waking up. “Yes. All right, yes. I liked it. Now let me go.”
He chuckled into her hair. “You don’t want me to let you go.” His expert fingers were on every one of her sensitive places now, and she
was having trouble thinking.
She moaned.
“That’s right, Dana,” he whispered. “You want me. You want my hands on you. You want to put your hands on me.”
“No, I don’t. I wish I never thought of you at all.” But she didn’t sound very convincing, and she knew it. Her voice was drenched in pleasure, and he was playing her like a violin, lightly stroking her between her legs, pinching and toying with her breasts. It felt wonderful. She wasn’t struggling against him anymore. If anything, she was straining for more of his fingers.
His hand moved out of her pants.
She moaned in disappointment.
He deftly and quickly unbuttoned them.
“Stop,” she said.
“But that’s not what you want,” he said, his voice soft and deep. He peeled the fabric over her hips.
“I want...”
His fingers were back on her clit, making sweet, slippery circles.
“What do you want?” he asked. “Do you want me, beautiful?”
Oh, God, right then, she did. “Yes,” she murmured. “Yes, please.”
His hands were suddenly on her bare hips, pulling her tight against his body. She felt him against her, hard and demanding. Oh Jesus Christ, he was going to...
“Tell me again,” he said. He was pushing against her, rigid, persistent. Just a few more inches, and he’d be inside.
She tried to push back, to take him into her. She wanted it now. The nearness of it was driving her mad. But he was holding her hips, and she couldn’t move.
His breath was labored. “Hold on. Tell me again.”
“I want you,” she said. ‘Please Cole.”
He groaned, his fingers digging into her skin.
And then he let go of her.
She didn’t move for several seconds. She was confused. Why had he stopped?
Then, the haze of lust fell back a little, and she realized she was in a cell with her pants around her ankles. Dear God, how had she ended up here? Without looking at Cole, she reached down to pull them up and cover herself.
“Don’t,” he said.
He was still close. Just behind her. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her back.
She peered up into his dark eyes. “Why?” she whispered. Why had he started to seduce her and then stopped? Why was he forcing her to stay half-naked, embarrassing her even further?
“You want me,” he said. “You know it’s true. I know it’s true. And no matter what, you are going to want me.”
She shook her head. “I can stop.”
“No,” he said. “Dana...” He let go of her wrists. His fingers snaked between her legs again.
She pushed him away. “Fuck you.” She pulled her pants up.
“I want you too,” he said.
“Right,” she said. “Which is why we’re not actually screwing right now.” Not that she wasn’t grateful, actually. She didn’t want that. No part of her wanted that. Sex in a cell with a prisoner? It was beneath her.
“Not in here,” he said, echoing her thoughts.
“Goddamn you for doing that!”
“What?”
“For knowing what I’m thinking and saying it out loud.”
He looked surprised. “I do that to you too?”
She took a deep breath. Why was she here? “I need to ask you questions.”
“Dana, you and I are connected,” he said. “We belong together, and not in here. You killed tonight. You know what it’s like. You know how sweet it is. How can you think that anything that feels that good, that right, that connected to the source of life, can possibly be wrong?”
She trembled. “No.”
“It’s what we’re made for,” he said. “We are supposed to kill.”
“No.”
“You felt it. You can’t tell me you didn’t feel it.”
“The wolf felt it,” she said.
“You are the wolf. The wolf is you,” he said. “Please, Dana. You can’t deny this. You can’t deny that you and I are meant to be free together, that we’re meant to—”
“No,” she said. She backed up into the wall, pressed her palms into it. “That’s what you want, Cole? You want me and you to be some kind of Mickey and Mallory werewolf killing couple?”
He reached for her hand. “Get me out, Dana.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You can. You figured out how to sneak down here and see me,” he said. “You work for the SF. You can do it. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
“No,” she said. But she was still gripping his hand, wasn’t she? She looked down at their entwined fingers.
He gathered her into his arms. He brushed hair away from her cheek. “Don’t you want to be with me?”
She gazed into his dark eyes. Maybe she did. But... “I can’t.”
He kissed her. “You can.”
“No. I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
He buried his face in her shoulder. “Dana, please. For us.”
“There is no us.”
“That’s not true.” He lifted his head, searched her eyes with his own. “Can you think of anyone that has a stronger bond than the two of us? It kept me from killing you. It kept you coming to see me. You hate what I am, but you still want me. This is something stronger than morality, stronger than our own desires. This is bigger than us. And you have to recognize it.”
She let her fingertips brush his cheek. “Maybe so. But... I won’t let you out, Cole. I can’t ever do that.”
He closed his eyes. He kissed her forehead. “You’re not ready yet. I can wait.”
“I’ll never—”
“Shh.” He tightened the circle of his arms, pulling her close.
She loved the way it felt to have his arms around her. They had never done this. She had never felt him hold her. It was divine. She sighed. “You sent that rogue to me so that I could kill her? Just so I would see what it was like to kill?”
“Well, she might have thought she was going to win,” Cole said. “But yes.”
“That’s the most twisted, evil thing I ever heard.”
“And I thought I’d get points for not killing the reporter,” he said. “You are very difficult to please, Dana Gray.”
“How did you do it? How did you make her do that for you? Are you her alpha?”
He laughed. “Oh, you are getting there, aren’t you, beautiful?” He kissed her temple. “But you don’t quite understand the way an alpha bond works, or you wouldn’t have asked that.”
“Are you my alpha?”
He grinned at her. “Don’t be ridiculous, Dana. I couldn’t get you to submit. Why do you think I wanted to kill you?”
What?
And then Ursula King burst into Cole’s cell, and found her that way—clinging to the man who had tried to kill her and staring adoringly into his eyes.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Randall’s into her,” said Avery, pacing in front of Ursula’s desk. “We decided she should use that to try to get information.”
Dana stared at Avery in surprise. What was he saying? Was he covering for her? He didn’t need to do that.
Ursula was leaning against the desk, her arms crossed. “You decided that you would get physically close to a serial killer so that you could get information about the case.”
“Yes,” said Avery. “He obviously has a thing for her, so we thought we would lead him on.”
Ursula looked directly at Dana. “This is the man who tortured you and nearly tried to kill you. How could you have the stomach for something like that?”
Dana chewed on her lip. She couldn’t let Avery share the blame for her screw up. She wasn’t going to lie about what happened. She’d face the music herself. “Um... listen, King, that’s not really what—”
“I might have pushed her,” said Avery.
“What?” Ursula turned to him, shocked.
“That’s not true,” said Dana. “The truth is that it was all my idea. I did i
t without any input from Brooks. I—”
“That’s not what happened at all,” said Avery.
Ursula shook her head. “What kind of game are you two playing here?”
Avery shot Dana a meaningful glance. Dana knew it meant that she should keep her mouth shut. She didn’t want to lie to Ursula, but she also wasn’t sure how to explain everything. She searched for the right words.
“You’re both lying to me,” said Ursula. “One of you is protecting the other. Which one is it?”
“It’s Brooks,” said Dana. “He’s trying to take the fall for me.”
“It’s Gray,” said Avery. “She keeps blaming herself.”
Ursula drew a hand over her face. “Of course you’re not going to tell me.” She sighed. “You tried to get information from Cole Randall by embracing him like that?”
“Well...” said Dana.
“Yes,” said Avery.
“And what else?” said Ursula. “What else did you let him do?”
“What do you mean?” said Dana.
Ursula spread her hands. “Did you kiss him?”
Dana swallowed.
“Of course not,” said Avery. “It was just a little innocent flirting.”
“Because there’s no record of what happens down there. We don’t have cameras. He can claim anything he wants,” said Ursula. “Isn’t he scheduled to meet with the press for an interview soon? Your ex? What’s he going to say?”
“My ex is the one that got bitten tonight,” said Dana.
“He is?” said Ursula. “And then you ended up killing the wolf that attacked him. The two of you going to explain that, or are you going to lie to my face about it?”
Dana felt ashamed. “I’m not trying to lie to you, King. It’s only that it’s hard to explain.”
“It’s not,” said Avery. “Randall set the whole thing up.”
“What?” Ursula crossed her arms over her chest again. “How could Randall set anything up? He’s locked up.”
“That’s what we don’t know yet,” said Avery. “But Randall had motive to incapacitate Hollis Moore. He told Gray that he was going to be out of the picture, didn’t he?”
That was actually true. “Yeah,” said Dana. God, Avery was spinning a tangled little web here, mixing the truth with lies. Would he get away with it?
Dana watched Ursula, who looked confused but willing to listen. Avery just might. And if so, wouldn’t it be better to lie just a little bit? Maybe she should let it go.
“Why?” said Ursula. “What did he have against Hollis?”
“Jealousy,” said Avery. “He thought that he actually had a chance with Gray, and he wanted Hollis out of the picture.”