Chapter 8
CADE
Shit!
My damn phone chimed, and the sound freaked Jess out. She was probably worried about her grandfather.
I pushed myself off her as she started scrambling away from me. I was still wearing pants, so I tugged the phone out of my back pocket, cursing myself for not switching it off. I saw on the screen that it was Jake Cartwright calling.
Jake and I were good friends. He was my second in the pack—my beta, despite his own alpha tendencies. Fortunately, unlike Brandon, Jake had no desire to take on leadership of the pack, so rank wasn’t an issue between us. We’d grown up together and trusted each other implicitly.
He rarely called at this time of night. Maybe it was bad news about Tom? I knew he worked some night shifts at the hospital. He was probably there now.
I decided to take the phone outside where Jess wouldn’t hear the conversation. I tossed her a smile before heading out. She was searching among her discarded clothes, probably looking for her own phone. “Sorry, got to take this. Back in a few.”
“What’s up?” I asked Jake. I was out on the porch, the front door closed behind me. I wasn’t eager to hear any more bad news myself. I’d been pack leader for almost two years, but I still hadn’t gotten used to all the shit I had to deal with.
My dad had been the pack’s alpha for most of my life. It wasn’t an inherited job, but in our pack that was the way things usually worked. My brother Aaron would be in my position now, if he hadn’t gotten himself killed in a shoot-out between two human motorcycle gangs. Random killing, all because Aaron had stopped in to meet an old friend for a beer at a bar. It had gone down so unexpectedly that he hadn’t had time to get the hell out before a bullet had shattered his skull. He’d died instantly.
And, fuck, I still missed him. His death had hit me like an avalanche of boulders. To make things a whole lot worse, I used to hang with one of the MCs—a really dumb move for a shifter. I hadn’t been in that bar on the night it went down. I’d wished many times that I had, but I’d been miles away, fucking some biker chick whose name I could barely remember.
I’d still been young then, all kinds of stupid. I’d been acting out for years, probably to rebel against my otherwise perfect family. Motorcycle clubs were one of my asshole ways of bucking the traditions of my pack.
After Aaron died, I’d wised up. Mostly. Dad’s aspirations for the pack’s future had fallen on my shoulders, and I’d taken on the gargantuan task of trying to fill my older brother’s boots.
In the waning months of my father’s life, I’d had to contend with Brandon. He wasn’t of the Derringer family line, but I knew he was a worthy adversary. Because of my wild youth, Brandon had the support of a sizable number of people in the pack. I’d had to campaign hard to beat him, and my victory had been narrow.
Brandon had been gracious in the aftermath. There had been no challenge, no duel between us. He’d bowed to my leadership. Suzanne hadn’t been too happy about it, and she’d made her feelings clear, but Brandon was an alpha and he had his mate under control. Although that motorcycle stunt the other night made me wonder.
I didn’t think it was paranoid on my part to keep a close eye on the two of them. I got the sense that they were waiting, watching, and hoping I’d screw something up.
Until my leadership was absolutely secure, I had to be damn careful. So every problem felt like a crisis.
Jake got right to the point. “Sorry to bother you so late, but I thought you should know about this right away.”
“Is it Tom?”
“No, not Tom. That is, he’s not doing too well, but that’s not why I’m calling. This is something else. We had an emergency case brought into the hospital tonight. Human. He was clawed to death by a wolf.”
“Fuck. By a shifter wolf?”
“Yes. Cops won’t be able to tell that, but I can. Our guy down in the morgue confirmed it.”
“Who’s the stiff?”
“Small-time thug. Got a long record of offenses, including drug dealing and grand larceny. Seems he may have been one of those motorcycle dudes you rode with for a while.”
Shit. “Name?”
“Jock Nichols. Age 25. Know him?”
“I don’t recognize it. But he’d have been known by whatever name his club had given him. It’s been a while since I was involved with any of those guys.”
“Know anybody in the pack who might be mixed up with the MCs? The cops are probably gonna write this off as an animal attack, but it was homicide.”
If so, it was up to me to find out if the killing involved anyone in my pack. It was against long-established shifter law to kill humans.
“There are often a couple of young guys who hang with the MCs. Wild and stupid like I was. Plus the bikers are the pipeline to illegal drugs.”
“You didn’t do it, right?”
“Me? What the fuck, Jake?”
“Sorry, bro. Had to ask. Just wondering if this Nichols dude could be one of the creeps who shot your brother.”
I felt part of me close down. “You mean did I kill him as some kind of revenge thing? I don’t even know who shot my brother.” Caught in the crossfire was what the cops had claimed. Wrong place, wrong time. “No, I didn’t kill a fucking human. How can you even ask that?”
“Dude, take it easy. I’d kill the bastards myself if I knew who shot Aaron, despite my ancient oath to do no harm. Don’t tell me you’ve never wondered if Aaron was targeted on purpose that night. He was your dad’s successor, and, at the time, you sure weren’t looking like a possibility for the post you hold now.”
“It’s occurred to me, yeah. You know that; we’ve talked about it.”
“Not lately.”
“Lately I’ve been busy with all this pack business crap. Trying to manage our resources, herds and lands and shit so we don’t all starve to death. Still trying to learn everything I didn’t bother to learn growing up because I was too busy being a wiseass. You know the drill.”
“Yeah, I know, Cade.”
“Anyway, the cops couldn’t pin it on anyone and neither could my father. He and Mom exhausted every possible line of inquiry. Dad told me before he died that he was pretty sure it had been a random thing.”
“I don’t think the latest death is random. Some shifter wanted Jock Nichols deleted, and now we got his body down in the morgue.”
“I fucking hope it wasn’t someone in the pack. Does anyone else know about this?”
“Nope. We’ll have to notify the cops that the guy’s dead, but they’ll think it was a wild animal attack.”
“Great. Last thing we need is a panic among the ords. They’ll all take their shotguns and hunt down every wolf they can find, not to mention every stray dog.” I thought for a moment then added. “I’d better contact Marta.” Marta was a shifter police officer, one of our pack. “She’ll have to know the truth, of course. Maybe she can investigate discreetly and find out if there’s any connection with our pack.”
“Good idea. I’m hoping it’s a lone wolf type.”
The news jarred me enough that when I headed back inside, my plans for finishing up what I’d started with Jess had to be set aside. Even though I didn’t doubt Jake’s conclusion, I wanted to see that body with my own eyes.
In my absence, Jess had pulled on a paint-stained smock. Her legs were bare and she looked adorable. But worried.
“Who was that?”
“Pack business.” I was preoccupied, trying to work it all through in my head. “I have to go, babe.”
“Wait.” Her hand on my arm stopped me. Her touch felt fine, even when I was stressed out. “You look upset. What’s going on? It’s nothing to do with my grandfather, is it?”
I stroked her thick, tangled hair. “Nope. I’d tell you if it were.”
“Okay, thanks.” A grin skittered across her pretty face. “Sorry you have to leave before I could return the favor.”
“Yeah. Fuck. Me too.”