AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t pin this on her! You’re the one who filled his head up with fanciful ideas about humans, and love and acceptance and pulling back the curtain. He disappeared helping your cause.”
“He never arrived at the vote,” Caelan replied, rolling up his sleeves. “You knew which way he was leaning. You knew the decision was tight.”
Cal drew in a sharp breath. Bones shifted beneath her rosy cheeks. “You wouldn’t dare accuse me!”
I wedged between them only to get flung aside by the alpha.
“Stay back, sugar. I'm done playing nice.”
“Cal!” I pleaded, grabbing her arm.
She shook me off.
“I don’t believe it was you that did it, Calico.” Caelan glanced into the hall. “But if you don't want to lose another member of your pack to the man that did, I suggest you listen to your sister.”
She whirled on me.
“Did you know Rhetta and Jaz kidnapped a man tonight?”
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“Caelan was interviewing a shaman on suspicion of working for Ingram Hayes, or, worse, hosting the monster that’s whispering in the necromancer’s ear. She wolfed out and grabbed him mid-interview. We think he’s the shaman who helped with her pregnancy.”
“How did you know about that?”
“We think he’s interested in her and the baby,” I continued. “He’s going to rip out her heart for some type of ritual.”
Before I could move, Calico was halfway down the stairs, screaming for Jazeel. “She's in the orchard! She said she was feeling overwhelmed and needed some alone time!” At the last word she clutched the banister, struggling to stay upright as her heels popped off and fur shredded through her calves.
chapter 25
THE BODIES
Wolves of all shapes and sizes stood between Caelan and I and the glass slider leading into the backyard. Stephen's now-bloodied pelt passed from packmate to packmate. Their attentions never swerved toward us as we pushed through the mourning crowd. Well, I had to push. Despite strength in numbers and physical advantage, the wolves parted as if on instinct away from the sheriff.
Jazeel, the single human left in the pack after his alpha had yielded to raw howls, tended the otherwise abandoned bonfire. I suspected he'd volunteered to stand guard while his mate healed and did whatever it was she was doing with Zakar.
He’d thrown a log on the flames when we’d approached. As the flare of fresh wood died, Jaz saw us, flung wildly in our direction the next log he’d picked up, and ran for the tangled branches of the apple orchard.
Caelan got his arms around the man several yards in. The two hit the ground hard and rolled. Jaz was the bigger of the pair, but size lent the advantage for only a few blows; he clearly lacked the knowledge or aggression to fight, as in a matter of moments the sheriff held him bloody and pinned against the undergrowth.
“If I didn’t have a pack of emotionally stressed werewolves at my back, I’d have dropped you. Run again and I will,” Caelan warned, reaching into a pouch on his gun belt. He pulled out three sharp pins, each an inch in length, and stuck them into the back of the man’s shoulder.
Jaz howled and twisted, but made no move to run.
“Silver,” he explained to me as I caught up. “Standard protocol when handling Werefolk. Most of them bust through the cuffs if given the opportunity.” With Jaz trapped human, Caelan cuffed him proper, then stood and ordered Rhetta’s husband to his feet.
“Where’s Rhetta?” I asked, knocking leaves off Caelan’s shoulders. “Rhetta, Mina, whatever you call her: she's in grave danger.”
Jaz scowled. A cut over his eyebrow was already scabbed over. “Worse than what he did? He killed her twice over! She’s pregnant!”
“That don’t excuse her actions,” Caelan said softly. “Is the baby alright?”
“Barely,” Jaz admitted. “She felt him kicking on the drive home. He’s tough like her.”
“Where is she, Jaz?” I grabbed the man’s hand. His skin coursed with the heat of an internal bonfire. “We won’t hurt or your precious baby boy.”
“We'll do what’s necessary to bring our suspect into custody,” Caelan corrected, removing his gun from its holster as he scanned the orchard. The woods around us buzzed with insects and the soft flutter of a bat’s wings. He held his finger off the firearm's trigger, but the act proved hardly reassuring to the expectant father. “I can't promise anything. I can tell you my people are ready to intervene and that I'd prefer this proceed amicably, wouldn't you?”
