Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (22 page)

His cell phone was ringing when he entered his shabby room.
He hadn’t taken it with him because he didn’t want to give away his position hiding out.
He looked at the caller ID and didn’t recognize the number so he let it go to voicemail.
Stripping down
,
he stepped in the shower and was drying off when he heard it ring again. This time he answered, ready to give the person on the other end a piece of his mind.

“They know. They found out that you killed your wife and they’re going to come and get you.”
The call ended with a bang.
He set the phone down then picked it up to dial to retrieve messages.
It said basically the same thing
,
only this time there was a threat.
“If you tell on me, I’ll take you down with me.”

Paddy sat on the toilet and set the phone gently on the sink.
He stared at it for several seconds before he leaned forward
,
rested his head in his hands
,
and continued to stare.
He didn’t have any idea who it was and wors
e
yet, he didn’t know what the hell they were talking about.
He moved out of the bathroom then started to get dressed.
He didn’t even go near the phone until he was completely clothed and he had his boots on.
He picked it up and decided to call the number.

It rang three times before someone answered.
It was a woman this time instead of the man from the other two calls.
He waited for her to say something else besides hello
,
but she didn’t.
Then when she did speak, his entire body chilled.

“It will do you little good to figure out where this call came from. You’ll still be dead. Dead sooner if you fuck with us.”
There was a shuffle of something heavy then, “
C
all this number again and I will hunt you down and cut your pecker off.”

The line going dead was nearly as scary as the threat.

Chapter 12

Glad watched the children.
She’d been trying to think of a way to talk to her grandniece
,
but all she thought about was that Darcy was talking only to Gordon and Dallas about what had happened.
And what she was saying to them was…well, Glad’s heart hurt not really knowing everything.

Someone had come into the house and had killed Judith. They knew that.
They’d thought it was Paddy
,
but it turned out that he’d actually been knocked out when it happened.
Darcy had said that he’d changed into a wolf and that he’d attacked them
,
but the other man had shot him with some sort of gun and the needle had been sticking out of his fur when he’d gone down.

The man, Tom is what Darcy had said her father had called him
,
had then attacked Judith who was trying to hide her.
Darcy said her mother had been shielding her with her body
,
but the man had simply used the cane that had changed into a large sword.
He’d cut her nearly in half and after she’d fallen he’d started beating on Darcy.

“He cut me up really bad.
I was bloody everywhere and then he stabbed me in the chest.
I tried to get away
,
but…but I fell and then Aunt Alexis came into the house.
She tried to get him off me
,
but he wasn’t having it.”
Darcy looked up at her and then away.
Glad was afraid she was going to tell them that she’d let him in the house, but she didn’t.
Grateful beyond words, Glad leaned against the wall she was hiding behind and listened to the rest of the story with horror.

They’d come there to get Judith
,
Darcy said. And her.
Glad had only let them in because Paddy had called and said that he’d had some money for them.
And Jessie thought maybe they could work things out so that he’d visit the children
. S
he had insisted that she let them in.
And the fact that Paddy was bringing his lawyer so that they could sign off on the papers that said he’d be giving them money every week was something they had both agreed would be a good thing.

They needed the money.
They were living only on hers and Jessie’s Social Security and it wasn’t much.
Judith had a little saved
,
but the divorce had cost her plenty.

Darcy sitting next to her on the couch and watching her brothers and sister startled Glad and she was mute for several minutes.
When Darcy spoke to her
,
it was in low
,
hushed tones.

“He wasn’t telling us the truth
. H
e never did.
Did he?”

Glad could have pretended that she didn’t know who she was talking about
,
but it would have been a lie. There were enough of those going around right now and
she
decided to answer her question.
“No.
I didn’t mean to let him hurt you
,
Darcy.
I swear it. I let him in because he said that he had seen the errors of his ways.
And when I left, I didn’t know what he was going to do to you.” Glad wiped at the tears as she continued.
“He’s always been only out for himself.
Always.
I don’t know what to tell you
,
but I swear that I didn’t—
”

“I know that
,
Aunt Glad,” she told her
,
cutting her off.
“He said once that he didn’t know why he married
M
om. He thought it was because she didn’t want him when he was growing up.
Why would he want someone that didn’t want him?”

Glad didn’t know the answer to that either other than to say Paddy had always been a spoiled brat
,
so she said nothing.
As they sat there watching Sis play with her dollies and the boys try to run them over with their trucks
,
Glad thought of something else.
“How did she save you?”

Darcy looked at her with a frown.

“Your
a
unt Alexis, how did she save you?
Gordon told me that you said Alexis saved you
,
but he didn’t say how.
He said you told him yesterday when you were talking to him and Dallas. You said that she saved your life.
How?”

She was so quiet that Glad was sure she wasn’t going to answer.
Then when she did, she knew that Darcy wasn’t telling her everything.
She didn’t know why she thought so
,
but she got the feeling that Darcy was protecting her aunt even now. Or she still didn’t trust her.

“I don’t know.
I think she put a blanket over me and stopped the pain.
I guess the blood that was on me was…it must have been
M
om
’
s and not mine like I thought.”
She looked at Glad then and smiled that sort of half
-
smile.
“You know that’s what I meant, don’t you?”

Glad nodded and didn’t say anything.
There were things going on that she didn’t understand.
They’d all known that Alexis was different
,
and after Judith died it
had
bec
o
me more apparent that whatever she was
,
she was keeping it to herself.
Glad wondered what else she didn’t know about her niece. She left the children to go into the other room
,
her thoughts a jumble of everything.

The kitchen was her solitude.
Glad began pulling out things to make some cookies without thinking about what she was doing.
Her mind was a muddle of things that were really nothing she could narrow down
,
so she baked. By the time she’d gotten the batter mixed up and the first sheet of cookies in the oven
,
she finally came upon the note that Alexis left.

“I’m at the building making stuff for the shop.
Please call me if you need me as I’ll have the phone near me.
Gordon and his brother may be in and out.
I don’t know what they’re doing
,
but let them have free rein.
A.”

Glad looked out the kitchen window and saw that there were lights on in the building and that some of the doors and windows were open.
Smiling
,
she wondered what sort of concoction Alexis was brewing up now
,
and
she
went about her baking.
It was several hours and several batches of cookies later when Gordon and Dallas showed up.

~~~

Gordon could smell the other wolf as soon as he walked along the driveway.
He knew that it was the same one that had attacked him and was very careful where he walked.
He wanted his brother to get the scent too.
After the two of them walked around where Paddy had been they went back up to the house and sat in the kitchen while Gladys filled a plate of cookies for them both.

“What do you think we can do to improve the way this place is locked down?”
Gordon looked up at his brother as he shoved two warm chocolate chip cookies in his mouth.
“This place has a better security system than we have.
Not to mention all the power running through those lines.
Who the hell is she trying to keep out?”

Gordon hadn’t told Dallas about the other wolf. He wanted him to come here and see for himself what they were dealing with.
It made him feel better knowing that the place was secure
,
but he still had a feeling he was missing something.

“Oh he’s a horror of a man.
Why just before they divorced, he threatened me
,
”
Jessie said as she entered the room and before Gordon could talk around his cookies.
“The nerve of the littler pisser.
I’ll have you know that in my day I could sho
o
t the eye out of a rat.”