Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (3 page)

The woman grinned at her and held out her hand.
“CJ Force.
You must really have it bad for that person.” Alexis shrugged at her observation.
“I know what you mean. My family is like that in that you want to murder them one minute and hug the shit out of them the next.”

“You’ve no idea,” Alexis said softly.
“I’m very sorry for snapping at you like that. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.”
She tried to push her cart around her only just realizing that the last name was the same as the officer.

“You’re new around here
,
aren’t you
?
” the woman said as she moved her cart next to Alexis’.
“My husband and I just moved into the house on Blueberry Lane.
Well, the entire pa…family has moved.”

Every
time she moved her cart to go around the woman, she’d block her again.
After several attempts Alexis realized she was doing it on purpose.

Alexis stared at her.
“You’re very pushy
,
aren’t you?
Has it occurred to you that I’m trying to be polite and get away from you? I have things to do and doing social hour with you isn’t really high on my list of
gotta do today
.”

CJ threw back her head and laughed.
Alexis couldn’t help it, she laughed too.
She’d had a shitty morning, a crappy day
,
and this woman wasn’t going to let her get by with it.
She had no idea why she immediately liked her
,
but took a chance and hoped she wasn’t related to the cop from earlier.

“Would you like to start over?
I’m CJ Force and I’m reasonably sure you’re new to this area.
Would you like to get some dinner?”

“Alexis Dark
,
and yes to both.
I’ll just have to call…”
Alexis remembered the cop and decided that having a cop as a friend of a friend might be too much.
“I need to ask you something first.
And I’m sorry if you think this is rude
,
but you’re not by any chance related to an Officer Force
,
are you?”
Please say no
,
her mind screamed at her.

“Yes, unfortunately, he’s my brother-in-law.
Did he hit on you? Which one was it?
I have two in the department.
Well, one will be quitting soon
,
but for now two.
I’m betting it was Gordon.
For some reason he thinks all women love him and he’s…are you all right?”

No
,
she wasn’t.
A cop. She nodded th
e
n shook her head.
Alexis looked at the stuff in her cart and the few things she’d put on the belt to be paid for.
Should she just leave it
,
or pay and make her escape
?
She couldn’t have the police around, Paddy would know.
She started tossing things on the conveyor belt and then pulled out her credit card.

“I’m fine. I have to go. I just remembered that I couldn’t…”
Alexis took a deep breath.
“I have to go, Mrs. Force.
I’m sorry
,
but…”
Handing the girl her credit card to pay
,
she snatched up her two bags and flew out the door.

She was nearly home before she realized that she
’d
left her card.
Giving in
to the tears that she never let fall
,
she pulled to the side of the road and let herself have a really good sob.
It took her an extra hour to get home and
,
once there
, she
simply handed her groceries to her aunt and shook her head when she started to ask.
She made her way to her rooms before she could see anyone else.

She didn’t want to move again.

Chapter 2

“Your new girlfriend is Alexis Dark.
She’s the owner of Dark Treasures in town.
Mom and Holly used to buy things from her over the
I
nternet and now they can just go into town.”
Gordon nodded at his brother’s information.
“She and two other women, a Gladys Dark and a Justine Andrews
,
live out on Saddle Brook Lane.
Alexis moved here about ten months ago and bought the house and about ten acres.
She paid cash.”

That information made the cop in him pay attention. He also decided not to tell his brother that she wasn’t his anything.
“How much cash and did anyone inquire as to where the money had come from?”

“Not that I’m aware of.
But I did do a little digging and found out she had a sister that died a year ago.
There was a big stink over her death. Alexis claimed her brother-in-law, Patrick Booth
,
killed her and the authorities claimed it was a mountain lion.”
Dallas paused just a bit and Gordon knew he wasn’t going to like the rest.
“Others claim it was a wolf.”

“And you know this how?
Or do I want to find out?”
Dallas tossed a file across the table at him and he opened it.
The thing was full of pictures. Before he could ask about them
,
they heard a car pull into the drive.

Gordon looked up when the back door to the kitchen opened and CJ walked in.
He and Dallas jumped up to take the bags from her and set them on the counter for her.
Dallas went to the car to get the rest for her while Gordon started going though the bags to find him
self
a snack.

“I met someone who knows you today,” CJ started.
He grinned at her from behind.
She wasn’t very good at hiding her scents yet and he knew she was upset about something.
“She asked me if I was related to you then took off like I’d tried to run her down with my rig. Want to explain that one to me?”

He took the pitcher of tea from her and drew down two glasses.
He took his time and t
r
ied to remember if he’d pissed anyone off lately that would talk to CJ. No one came to mind so he just shrugged.

“Nope.
Must have been Connor this time. I’m innocent until you can prove otherwise.”
He handed her the tea.
“And you owe me two hundred and ninety-four dollars and ten cents for that crap I…”
He stared at her
,
thinking maybe it was too small a world if Alexis
had run
into CJ. Either that or she was looking for him through her. He sat his glass down and leaned against the counter as Dallas brought in the rest of the bags.

“What is it? Are there so many women in your harem that you have trouble keeping them all straight? Damn it, Gordon, I liked this girl. She was rude and tried to avoid me.”

He frowned at CJ. “And of course you would think that is the basis for a long and lasting friendship?
What the hell did she do, run right out and find you to pay me back or something?”
Gordon flushed.
CJ had that look about her that said he’d gone too far. He knew he shouldn’t piss her off, but there were times when it was easier to go a round or two with her than one of his brothers. Sometimes anyway. He suddenly didn’t think this was going to be one of those times.

“What did you do to her?
I’m not kidding
,
Gordon Force.
You’ll tell me what you did to piss this girl off or so help me
,
I’ll…I’ll do something you’ll regret.”
She was his alpha person and he knew better than to argue with her.
But he was just as pissed as she seemed to be.

“What the hell do you think I am, huh?
A monster?
I went to her shop like
you
asked me to and
,
while there
,
I was going to clear up a few of the rumors I’d heard around town.” He heard Dallas tell him to back off
,
but was too far gone to heed his advice. “How the fuck was I to know she was going to be all pissy about me talking to the kids
?
I didn’t do a damn thing to them other than to fucking say hi.”

“That’s enough,” the voice thundered behind him.
Gordon didn’t even have to turn to know that his brother and alpha was standing right behind him.
He closed his eyes and then opened them as he turned.

“Don’t
,
Austin,” CJ told him. “He and I were just talking.
And I started it.
I was wrong and I shouldn’t have jumped on him like that.”
She hugged him before going to her mate.
“He didn’t do anything to upset me and I flew off the handle before I thought about it.”

“He should know better than to snap at you.
He and I will talk about this later.”
Gordon snorted at Austin.
“You think this is a joke?
She’s whelping
,
you shit head
,
and I’ll have you take a care.”

The low growl had them both step back.
Even though CJ hadn’t been a wolf long
,
she was still an alpha.
Gordon took another step back from her when she snarled at Austin.

“Honey, you
—”

“You say one word
,
you overgrown dog
,
and I will rip your nuts off your body and serve them up at the next pack meeting.
How do you expect me to be the alpha person if you are always stepping in and taking over?
Back the fuck up right fucking now.” Austin glared at Dallas when he laughed. “Don’t think that because I’m pissed at him right now that you’re off the hook either
,
smart boy.”

Gordon watched as she turned on Dallas.
Since he was grinning when she turned to him
,
she caught him as well.
“CJ, I’m sorry. Why don’t you tell me who you met and I’ll try to tell you how I pissed her off.”

Being the
brother
-in-law to an alpha person had its advantages.
Mostly
,
it was having her around to calm his brother
,
but there were times when he simply liked to tease her.
And he had to laugh every
time she glared at him.
To himself
,
though.