Enforcer (Cascadia Wolves) (6 page)

“Thanks,” she murmured, putting her gaze back on the screen. If she ignored him, perhaps they could just forget that scene in the bedroom even happened.

He pushed the laptop aside and put a plate filled with bacon, hash browns, eggs and toast in front of her. “Eat.”

She gave him an annoyed glare but dug in heartily, realizing it had been quite a while since she’d last eaten. Moments later she could feel the delicious food begin to energize her, and she needed that strength to meet the day.

Cade strolled in and grabbed a mug of coffee and sat at the bar with them. He did a double take, eyes widening as he took her in. “Uh, wow, who are you?” He laughed and it got even louder when he saw the look Lex threw at him.

Nina explained the situation quickly and Cade sent a surreptitious look at his brother and then back to her. “Well, I think glasses are sexy but I have to say that the you you’ve been hiding is pretty hot. I can see why you wanted to keep things low-key. I do look forward to hearing just exactly what it is you’re hiding from someday.”

“Put your eyes back in your head while you still have them,” Lex growled.

Cade chuckled and looked back at Nina, who was blushing. He winked at her and tipped his head toward the laptop that was on the counter. “So? Any news?”

She took a sip of coffee and turned the screen to face Cade. “I’ve broken through some major security protocols but I’m still working on the encryption program. Right now there’s a program running through my laptop, hooked up to this one, that’s trying to break through. The problem is that the protection program on this is layers deep and much newer than the program on my computer. Whatever your boy found out, it’s something pretty major. This is really sophisticated stuff.” She looked to them and narrowed her eyes. “You guys running guns or drugs? If you are, say so now because I have enough trouble and I don’t have any need to borrow more.”

“No! What is it you think a Pack does anyway?” Cade asked, offended.

She made an annoyed snort and waved in Lex’s direction. “Look, your brother here carries a mighty big gun and seems pretty comfortable around ass kicking. You live in this very posh mansion, you drive a Mercedes and a Harley. Your clothes are designer. You’re both wearing expensive watches.” She stood up and began to pace, trying to stay calm.

“My brother was infected on purpose in a bar fight by one of your own Pack members. He pretty much has been off the radar for the last two years. I have no idea what you do but if he had a part in it, I can only guess that it’s shady.”

Lex gave an inarticulate growl of offense. “We don’t run guns or drugs, Nina. The Pack owns a construction business. By trade I’m an architect but I handle Pack security. I carry a gun because sometimes we have to deal with dangerous situations. Cade runs the Pack as well as the day-to-day business stuff from the construction company and our coffeehouses. The Pack owns a coffeehouse in Queen Anne and another in Bellevue. Carter, the third-in-command, runs the coffeehouse in Queen Anne, and our fifth, Melissa runs the one in Bellevue. Nothing illegal.”

She sighed. “Nothing you know about. This level of encryption doesn’t protect coffee-buying records of your Pack, Lex. Whatever is on this hard drive is hot. Two people have been killed to protect it.”

“As far as I can tell, you’re the only one here who is a criminal,” Lex said and immediately regretted it when he saw her wince.

“Yeah? Huh, cause no one’s been murdered over me. I’m not carrying a big gun. My house—the house I had before
your
people torched it—wasn’t protected by a sophisticated security system.” Her voice was tight.

“In any case, if I recall correctly, we aren’t talking about my past. This isn’t about me. I’ve changed. Everything I did, I did to eat and to feed and house a teenaged brother. I don’t have to defend myself to you,” she bit off and he watched her close up. She moved her body away from his and it brought a frisson of panic from his wolf.

Lex winced, horrified that he’d hurt her. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. Some money has disappeared. Cade noticed it about six months ago. We also noticed that some non-Pack-affiliated wolves had been coming to our Howls. A few of the Pack hierarchy came to me, concerned that one of our own might be up to no good. We took a few names, discreetly, off the financial stuff, to try and protect the Pack. We didn’t want to arouse suspicions or make false accusations but it wasn’t something we could ignore. Tommie was watching three people for us.”

“And they are?”

Lex looked to Cade, trying to decide how much to tell her.

“Hey look,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “My brother
died
for this crap. I’m either in or I’m out, there is no in between. You tell me everything or I’m out of here. You can crack your own computer—which you won’t be able to.”

“You aren’t Pack, we don’t share this kind of thing with outsiders,” Cade tried to explain.

She widened her eyes at them incredulously. “Look at me, Cade Warden. Look at my face. Is this the face of a woman who cares? No! Listen, in fact, I could not possibly care less about not having the secret wolf handshake. I’m telling you how it’s going to be. Take it or leave it.”

Lex sighed, looking to Cade, who nodded his permission to tell her. “Sit down and finish your breakfast. Tommie was watching Carter, Melissa and Eric. They’re all in the top Pack hierarchy, right below Cade and me.”

“Obviously you don’t know who Tommie was meeting that night.”

He shook his head. “No, we do, but that’s the problem. He met with all three of them that night. They all admit to having seen him but they all said that he left without a problem. According to their stories, Melissa was the last to see him, but obviously the killer is lying and so we don’t know what the heck is up.”

She nodded. “Okay, well, let me get back to work and see if I can’t find some answers for you. I’ve got to go to the police station in an hour so let me get this program started so that it can work while I’m gone.” She shoved her plate away, pulling the laptop back in front of her.

“While
we’re
gone,” Lex said.

“Do you always do that growl thing?” she asked, annoyed that it turned her on as much as it did.

“Are you always this difficult?” he countered, leaning in closer to her.

Before she could retort, Cade threw his head back and laughed so hard that he cried. Lex snorted, tossed the dishtowel at his brother’s head and turned to gather up the dishes.

* * * * *

She tried not to cry when she saw the ruin of her house. Lex wanted her to see it before they went to the police. He hated hurting her but he wanted that emotion to help her because the last thing he needed was to bring more problems into her life than they already had. The cops and the arson investigators from the fire department needed to see how upset she was, needed to know that she didn’t do this herself.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly as she looked at the ruin that had once been her home.

She shrugged. “There’s nothing you can do. It is what it is.” Her voice was flat but he could feel her sorrow. He wondered, not for the first time, just what it was that made her so distrustful. He also winced as he remembered his comment about her criminal past back at the house. He doubted she’d be opening up to him about that any time soon.

He touched the back of her hand briefly and drove her to the police station.

They were both relieved that their story about spending the night together was accepted without incident. They didn’t have a lot to go on but the chemicals used as an accelerant were unusual enough that the attentions of the investigators had been raised.

“I know who you are, Mr. Warden. Do you think this might have something to do with your, uh, species affiliation? After all, Ms. Reyes is a florist, why would anyone torch her house?” The lead police detective on the case asked.

“I certainly hope not, Detective Stoner,” Lex said calmly. Humans knew about werewolves, but there was an uneasy truce at best. “But you may be right. In any case, Nina is staying with me at my home, where I can be assured of her safety.”

“That’s probably a good idea.” Stoner watched them both with the eyes of a very sharp cop.

Lex breathed an inward sigh of relief when the rest of the investigative team from the fire department came into the room and one of the men was clearly Pack. A look passed between the two and the subtle lowering of the man’s eyes let Lex know that he accepted Lex’s position.

They gave their statements and then to the insurance company agent who’d visited the site. Until the situation was investigated more thoroughly, Nina knew she wouldn’t be seeing a dime from them. Thankfully she had a comfortable enough savings to deal with her living situation until that came through without having to touch her secret account. But it made her uncomfortable nonetheless. She’d lived hand to mouth and she had no desire to ever do so again.

* * * * *

On the way back to the house she made Lex stop at a local mall so that she could get some clothing and toiletries.

He did the typical man thing with that hangdog—she giggled to herself at the word—face as she shopped. Finally, two hours later, they emerged laden with bags of clothes, shoes and other necessities, which he loaded into the car without complaint. Vocal complaint anyway.

“I can’t believe you took so long,” he grumbled as he loaded the bags into the back of the car. There were few things worse than shopping, in his opinion. Even watching Nina Reyes pick out panties wasn’t enough to make up for the misery of the mall.

“Well excuse me! My fucking house was torched because of some shady shit your people got up to! I had two pairs of pants, two shirts, a pair of sneakers and one extra pair of underwear. I don’t have some big giant mansion with Mercedes in the garage.”

She stood there, nose to nose with an alpha wolf, hands on her hips, eyes flashing.

Lex looked at her, watched her chest rise and fall with her breath, watched the fire in her eyes. God, she was magnificent, and every inch his equal. He pulled her to him and his lips crushed down on hers as he growled in frustration. At first she was stiff in his arms but within moments she softened and her hands slid up the wall of his chest and into his hair.

Her tongue shyly touched his lips and then possessiveness roared through him as her taste filled his senses. His mouth opened and he coaxed her tongue with his own. His hands kneaded her ass, the tips of his fingers moving toward the heat between her thighs.

She moaned at the pleasure of being in his embrace and had angled her head to kiss him more fully when a series of beeps sounded. Lex stiffened and then groaned as he pulled back from her.

“What?” she murmured, eyes slightly glazed.

He pulled a small phone out of his pocket and answered it, all the while moving her toward her side of the car. “I know,” he grunted into the receiver and snapped it closed.

He opened the car door and motioned with his head for her to get inside.

“What? Why did you stop?” she asked, confused.

“We’re standing in the open. It was stupid of me to let myself get carried away,” he said as he gently but firmly pushed her inside the car and closed the door behind her.

He walked around to the driver’s side and got in as she sat there, openmouthed at his comments.

Carried away
? He groped
her
! He kissed
her
! He started it and he refers to that kiss as being carried away? Nina ground her teeth in frustration. She got the out in the open part—that was logical to be worried about—but
carried away
? Ugh!

Lex’s nostrils flared. He could scent her anger and her frustration. “What are you mad about now?” he asked, agitation clear in his voice.

She turned on him, her arms crossed tight over her chest. Her eyebrows shot straight up with incredulity, her mouth opened but she closed it again. What on earth could she possibly say to this insufferable jerk? She snorted, turned back around and looked out the window without making a comment.

He tried to get her to speak a few more times but she just acted as if he didn’t even exist—and oh how he hated the silent treatment. He only got it from human women. Well, female humans and his sisters. Other than that, female wolves accepted his dominant nature and didn’t question it. Damn it! All of the beautiful and docile Pack females and his mate is a prickly human? Figured.

“Fine, be that way,” he mumbled and pulled up the drive to the house.

She mimicked him with her head turned, not giving him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of her, and when the car stopped she got out and went to the trunk, waiting for him to unlock it.