Forbidden Attraction (2 page)

He’d never minced words with his younger littermate. Dimitri hated being treated like a cub, even when he’d been one. “Neither one of us sees what Josie sees, but what is clear to me is that we’re about to have a war on our hands.”

Just staring at the coiled barbed wire in the back of the truck pissed Nicolo off even further. Even after driving into Valle with cold winds wrapping around them, the smell of blood still lingered around them.

They’d parked in the small parking lot outside Bernie’s Den, a werewolf establishment in Valle where it would be easiest to track down the American pack leader.

Larry Shank, one of the American pack, headed across the parking lot toward Bernie’s Den and stopped when Dimitri parked, then waited until the two of them climbed out of the truck. He straightened, caution smelling strong on him when Josie pulled in next to them.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Where is Ollie?” Dimitri growled, glaring at the smaller werewolf.

Josie climbed out of his car and sauntered toward the pickup truck. Josie watched Dimitri. Nicolo focused on Larry, who stiffened and puffed his chest out as soon as he got a whiff of the outrage coming from their pack leader. Ever since Dimitri claimed the title of Malta werewolf pack leader, it seemed everything infuriated him.

“There’s his car.” Larry nodded toward the group of cars parked in front of the bar and grill. “My guess is that he’s inside.”

“I’ll find him,” Dimitri muttered and stalked across the parking lot, his boots crunching hard-packed snow.

Nicolo headed after his younger littermate, not sure he enjoyed the job of continually keeping their new pack leader out of fights. Granted, finding the barbed wire did more than tick him off as well. Who knew how long it would have gone undetected if it hadn’t been for the mangled body they’d found?

7

Lorie O’Clare

Bernie’s Den, the werewolf-managed bar and grill, did a fairly decent amount of business for a Thursday afternoon. Dimitri entered the dimly lit establishment and headed over to where Ollie stood at the end of the bar.

“I need to speak to you.” Dimitri had a way of grabbing the attention of those around him. His size, dark features and black hair that reached the collar of his black leather coat created an intimidating air that he used to his advantage.

“What can I do for you?” Ollie didn’t stand as tall as Dimitri, but he had a thick neck and arms and a barrel chest. He remained relaxed, seemingly indifferent to the spicy smell of anger that hung heavily in the air.

“Come outside with me.”

Josie stood next to Nicolo and the two of them stepped to the side, allowing both pack leaders to lead the small procession to the door. The smell of curiosity filled the air around them, and he guessed every werewolf in the establishment would find reason to step outside over the next few minutes.

“What’s this about?” Ollie asked the second the door closed behind them.

Dimitri’s boots crunched over packed snow. He turned around and faced Ollie.

“One of my pack members has been murdered.”

“Holy fuck!” Bruce Silverman had walked out with Ollie to Dimitri’s truck.

Ollie fisted his hands at his side, his own outrage smelling like pepper. “Are you suggesting someone in my pack did this?”

“I’m telling you one of my pack is dead.” Dimitri gave Ollie a hard look.

Nicolo agreed with Dimitri that keeping communication open with the packs bordering their territory helped them know who their enemies were and who watched their tails.

It wasn’t an accusation. None of them would suggest to their faces that one of the American werewolves had pulled off the gruesome task unless they had proof. For the most part, Nicolo trusted the American werewolves. He’d never smelled aggression on them, and it was this pack that helped them gain land for their own territory. Whether Ollie understood that or not didn’t matter much to Nicolo.

A handful of werewolves stared into the back of the truck where the coiled, mangled barbed wire lay next to the naked, dead werewolf, his body covered with the tarp. As with all werewolves, the moment his heart stopped beating, he’d returned to his human state.

Nicolo took in the somber group, sniffing out their reactions and not detecting anything suspicious. Guilt had a rancid smell.

Josie crossed his arms, standing next to Dimitri, ignoring the small group but turning his attention to his pack leader. “He had a mate. We need to notify her.”

Without being obvious, Josie had just told Dimitri that none of the werewolves present committed the murder. Nicolo caught the subtle message. None of the American werewolves knew Josie had the gift—not that it was any of their damned 8

Forbidden Attraction

business. But growing up with Josie, Nicolo knew the werewolf heard other werewolves’ thoughts. Something that Nicolo guessed would be rather annoying at times. He didn’t regret not having the gift Josie possessed.

“Where did this happen?” Ollie asked.

“We discovered the barbed wire stretched from one tree to another at the bottom of the north side of our mountain,” Nicolo offered.

“Whoever sabotaged our mountain will die,” Dimitri announced, glaring at the lot of them.

“No one in my pack would do this.” Ollie turned to face Dimitri. “If you think one of us did this, say so now!”

“If I believed one of your pack did this, we wouldn’t be talking right now,” Dimitri growled, stepping closer to Ollie.

Everyone tensed, watching their leaders carefully. Nicolo stood on the opposite side of the truck, watching as the door to Bernie’s Den opened and a handful of werewolves headed in their direction. Within moments, American werewolves surrounded the three of them. Dimitri ignored them, focusing only on Ollie.

“I accept that you’re new to leading your pack, and many challenges hit you. And I’ll give you credit for not storming into my territory with your claws extended.”

“Being a new leader has nothing to do with my not attacking you.” Dimitri’s tone had a deadly edge to it. “You didn’t kill this werewolf, or you’d be dead too. But someone did. And it was intentional. You may stand beside me or lie at my feet. I’ll give you that choice.”

Ollie banged the side of the truck with his fist. Several of the werewolves surrounding them shifted, hiding the fact that his sudden move made them jump.

“So you have a dead werewolf on your hands. What will you do about it?” he asked.

“Build up security in our territory,” Dimitri announced without hesitating. “This won’t happen again.”

Ollie nodded, slowly releasing a breath although the smell of anger still hung strong around him. “I take it there were no signs of who might have done this.”

“None. The way the barbed wire was stretched, you wouldn’t have noticed it. It’s the act of a coward though, and that pisses me off more than anything.”

“It’s much easier for a coward to attack a brave enemy by laying traps.” Ollie finally looked around at the group surrounding the truck. “Back off so the Malta werewolves can head out.”

The American werewolves backed off, some of them heading back inside the bar and grill since there wouldn’t be a good fight to watch.

“Keep me posted on anything you sniff out,” Ollie said, not leaving when the rest of his pack headed in out of the cold.

9

Lorie O’Clare

“Let me know if anyone attacks your pack.” Dimitri stared at the fair-skinned pack leader for a moment. “My gut tells me this won’t be an isolated incident.”

Ollie frowned, creating wrinkles between his small eyes. “Why would you suggest our pack might be attacked?”

Several tiny snowflakes blew in the air around them, a few landing in Dimitri’s black hair. Nicolo was wound tight and hadn’t noticed until now how the weather was changing. Suddenly he smelled the storm closing in on them.

“I’m not saying you will be attacked. Just watch your tails and let me know if you are.” The scent of Dimitri’s anger subsided a bit. More than likely, talking to the older pack leader did him some good, although he’d never admit it. “We could enter
lunewulf
territory and show them what I’ve just shown you. As if that would do a fucking bit of good. There are days when I pity their hostility toward us, since it keeps them in the dark.”

“You know talking to the
lunewulfs
won’t accomplish a damned thing,” Nicolo argued, although he doubted Dimitri intended on trying to carry out such a stunt.

“Agreed,” Josie interrupted. “The
lunewulfs
might be responsible for this—it happened close to where their territory begins. Almost too close.”

“What are you suggesting?” Ollie ran his thick hand over his bald head, frowning while shifting his gaze from one of them to the next.

“Just that finding a dead werewolf so close to the line dividing our territories would give us damn good reason to confront their pack with our claws extended.”

Dimitri seemed to pick up on Josie’s line of thinking. “And if we attacked, they would fight back. We’d wipe out quite a few of our pack members before learning the truth as to whether they did this or not.”

“If someone wanted both of your packs out of here, starting trouble and implying guilt would be a damned good way to eliminate both of you.” Ollie glanced at the flakes falling around them. “I’ll let you know if anything happens in my territory.”

“Keep your nose close to the ground for a while.” Dimitri reached for his door handle and Ollie nodded a somber goodbye before heading back to the bar.

Nicolo climbed into the truck and held his gloved hands in front of the heater vent while staring at the snow falling outside. Chills rushed over him, but this time the weather didn’t make him grumpy. Anger pulsed inside him. For once, he’d like to live without knowing the world around them wished them extinct.

Heidi Lutgard hated holding a grudge toward anyone. Animosity stank worse than anything. But at the moment, holding back any longer seemed impossible.

“You don’t have new ink cartridges?” She held the empty cartridge for the sales clerk to see.

“Maybe another store.” The human female dared stare her in the eyes while lying through her teeth.

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Forbidden Attraction

Heidi lowered her hand, clenching the cartridge hard enough that it pinched her palm. “You know as well as I do there are no other stores in Cuchara that sell computer supplies,” she hissed.

The female raised her eyebrow, then crossed her arms over her chest. Her look turned hostile. “Then try another town,” she advised, filling the air between them with the smell of her hatred.

Heidi pointed behind the human at the cartridges lining the shelves. “I’m not driving an hour out of my way when you have what I need right there.”

A tall, skinny human, twenty-ish or so, walked up to them. He stood next to Heidi, giving her an unimpressed once-over and then turned a questioning gaze to the female clerk.

“Is there a problem?”

“Yes. I need a new ink cartridge and she won’t sell me one.” Heidi held the empty cartridge out so the male human could see it.

He glanced at it without taking it from her, then walked around the counter, making a show of staring at the cartridges shelved behind the clerk and then shaking his head.

“Do you have cash?”

“Your machine won’t run my credit card?”

“It’s broken.” The female human smiled at her triumphantly.

Heidi fumed. “Why don’t you put a damned sign on the door saying that you won’t wait on
lunewulfs
? Then the two of you won’t have to stink up your store with your lies.”

Both humans’ jaws dropped but the male recovered faster. “We have a right to refuse service to anyone. It’s an American right.” He stuck his long, skinny nose in the air, thrusting his chin out as if he were pledging allegiance with pride. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, ma’am. Neither one of us makes enough money to have to put up with your hostile attitude.”

She had half a mind to let her teeth grow, growl and bare her claws just to watch them run in fear. As if that would solve the problem here.

“Apparently prejudice is a human right too,” she said under her breath, turning and using all the strength she had to walk slowly out of the store.

“They need to stay on Wulf Peaks.” The female complained loud enough for Heidi to hear.

She grabbed the door, hesitating for a moment while holding the handle. Did it piss her off more that they wouldn’t wait on her or that they clumped together the two mountains where the
lunewulfs
and Malta werewolves both had territory?

Correcting the humans would be more of a waste of time than arguing with them over selling her a cartridge. She yanked the door open, jarring the muscles in her arm so 11

Lorie O’Clare

they ached, and stormed outside. Her breath fogged around her face when she exhaled loudly.

“They aren’t worth your anger,” she mumbled and let the cold air sink into her pores before heading down the sidewalk. It did little to stop the heated outrage swarming inside her.

The rest of her shopping today was personal. A new pair of jeans, maybe some boots and possibly something sexy would improve her mood. Not that she had anyone to look sexy for anymore. But that wasn’t her fault. Steve had turned into an ass, trying to control her and demand her whereabouts every five seconds. No
lunewulf
owned her.

She didn’t have a collar around her neck.

“Bath oil,” she decided. “Something smelly to soak in.”

She’d buy the damned ink cartridge online. Although Bob, her pack leader, would be pissed when he learned he’d have to wait a couple of weeks before he could print anything.

Climbing into her car, she tossed her purse to the passenger seat and stuck her key in the ignition. She gave it gas and turned the key.
Click.
She tried again. Nothing.

“Well hell.” She stared over the steering wheel, wondering what else would go wrong today. The last thing she needed right now was her car breaking down in Cuchara, where no human would give her the time of day.

She searched through her purse for her cell phone, then scowled when it showed no signal. Maybe the clerks inside the computer store would get a kick out of watching her change before their eyes so she could run back to her pack for help.