Howling Moon (18 page)

“Besides.” Cat ignored that thought, tried to be reasonable. “Men his age have been dating women our age since the beginning of time.” She paused, thinking about it. “Although, usually the man’s the one with the money, and they
definitely
don’t look like your uncle… but still…”

Holly gave her a withering look. “It’s not funny.”

Cat’s expression grew serious. “Okay, so it’s not funny. But he’s hella
fine.
Besides, I
like
him. I think about him all the time. He understands what I’m feeling, and doesn’t sit in judgment about it. I know you think he’s ancient, but I don’t care.”

Holly’s face took on an odd expression. “You’re actually knocking boots with my uncle? That is so weird.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Cat tried to sound casual, and failed miserably. “I’ve never felt anything like this before. I mean, Mike’s a nice enough guy, but he’s a
kid.
And, I mean, the guy’s a complete slacker. I’ve been here how long, and I honestly don’t think he’s gone to class once. I mean, what’s the point of being in school if you’re not even going to show up?”

Holly didn’t even try to argue. She sat very still in her seat, her expression thoughtful. “So, what’s the plan then?”

“I’d
like
to lay low for a few days, give
everybody
time to calm down. But that
so
isn’t happening.”

“New flash! I mean, wolves and the big cats are natural enemies. The pack’s bound to hate you right out of the box.” Holly’s expression grew serious, her eyes darkening. “You really need to be careful. You keep trying to deal with the pack like the people you grew up with. That won’t work. They may
look
human – but they’re
not,
not even a little. If things keep up the way they’ve been going, they’re going to get even uglier than they already are.”

“Is that even marginally possible?” Cat joked.

Holly’s response was deadly serious. “Oh, yeah.”

Raphael punched the
speed dial on his cell phone. Fast Eddie picked up on the first ring. “Ramirez Towing.”

“Where’s Mona?”

“Morning sickness is a bitch. What’s up boss?”

“You need me in there today?”

He could practically hear the gears grinding in Eddie’s brain. Morning was
not
the big man’s best time of day. It took a good hour and several cups of coffee before he was up to intelligent conversation. He was, however, the best damned mechanic Raphael had ever met, so he paid him well and put up with the occasional hangover or payday advance.

“You gonna be in to sign paychecks Monday?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, no problem. It’s kinda slow anyway. We need a good snow.”

Raphael knew what he meant. First couple of snows, people always drove like lunatics: fender benders, multicar pileups. While he didn’t want to see anyone injured or killed, one good snow could make him enough money to cover payroll for more than a month.

“Well, it’s that time of year. Bound to happen sooner or later,” Raphael said.

“True,” Eddie agreed. Raphael heard the second line ringing. “Gotta get that. Later.” The line went dead in Raphael’s ear.

That done, Raphael turned the car around and drove home. He fully intended to go to pack headquarters and deal with the fallout from last night’s disaster, but he was going to shower and shave first. He didn’t want
anyone
to catch a whiff of him with Cat’s scent all over him. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of what he’d done. He wasn’t. Nor could he make himself regret it, despite the fact that it had been a very bad idea.

He knew he shouldn’t have slept with her. There were more reasons for him to avoid Cat Turner than he could count. But as soon as he looked in those eyes, caught her scent, all logic and reason fled. The only way he’d managed
not
to act on the attraction before this was to only see her for their lessons and avoid her the rest of the time. Even that wasn’t perfect. Because, like it or not, he couldn’t get the blasted woman out of his mind. He’d catch himself thinking about her at the oddest moments, checking to see what she was doing.

Right now, for example, she was in the shower. Raphael jerked his thoughts away from the soap running down the wet, naked curves of her body just in time to slam on the brakes before rear-ending the car in front of him.

He tried to distract himself by mentally creating a to-do list. First, he needed to schedule a meeting with Lucas. Raphael was
acting
Alpha. Fine. But just what exactly was he authorized to do? With the old man staying right here part of the time, Raphael had been reluctant to do much of anything. But if he had the authority, there were things Raphael
wanted
to take care of. For instance, he fully intended to find out just exactly what the children had been told about the accident that had claimed Candy Streeter’s life. He’d bet money it wasn’t the truth – or Michael wouldn’t have made that remark about doing Ned a favor. Raphael had still been connected to Cat when she’d watched some of the girls picking on Holly at the restaurant, as well. He had been surprised that Cat hadn’t stepped in to stop the harassment.

He intended to find out what in the hell was going on, and put a stop to it before it went too far and someone got killed. There was some sort of financial mess at Jake’s to be cleared up, and Tatya’s punishment. If all that wasn’t enough to keep his mind off a certain leggy blonde, then the cause was truly hopeless!

A quick call got him Lucas on the line. “If you want to meet it’ll have to be today.”

“You’re working on Saturday?”

“After last night?” Lucas asked “Hell yes, I’m working. I’m up to my eyeballs in paperwork and I’m due to fly out of town this afternoon. Can you make it to the office by ten thirty?”

Raphael checked the clock on the dashboard. Lucas was giving him just enough time to get home, clean up, and drive back to the complex, if he hurried. “No problem.”

When he reached
the door and lifted his fist to knock, the door flew open and he gasped as a cloud of jalapeno-scented fury hit him like a brick.

“Enough!”
Lucas growled deep in his throat. “Raphael, come in. Tatiana, you may go.”

Raphael jumped out of the way in the nick of time as the alpha female stormed past. He watched her head down the hallway, her rage a visible cloud of swirling reds and purples in the air around her.

“I
said
come in.” Lucas’s voice was harsh.

“Right.” Raphael did as he was bid, quickly.

“Shut the door and have a seat.” Lucas sat behind a large mahogany desk. While Raphael’s office had been decorated in pale blue fabrics and blond oak, Lucas, in contrast had chosen dark wood and deep rich burgundy. Three wingback leather chairs sat in a semicircle facing his desk. The chairs’ brass studs were echoed by the brass banker’s lamp that illuminated a clean, well-organized work space. The walls were lined with bookshelves housing leather bound classics, photos of Tatiana and the family, and mementos whose meaning were known only to their owner. It was a very “lawyerly” space, but that wasn’t surprising.

“Would you like some coffee?” Lucas offered, his voice as pleasant and smooth as if the conflict Raphael had witnessed had not taken place.

“Please.”

Lucas hit the intercom button. “Claire, bring the Second and me some coffee, black. Knock before you come in.”

Lucas leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of his nose. “So, what can I do for you?”

Raphael fought not to fidget. He was just a little bit uncomfortable. He didn’t want Lucas to think he was like Martin, grasping for power, but he did need to know just what die parameters of his new position were. The last thing he needed to do was piss off Lucas. Taking a deep breath, he blurted out the question. “Just how much authority are you expecting me to exert as ‘acting’ Alpha?”

Before Lucas could answer there was a light tap on the door.

“Come in.”

Lucas’s secretary entered, carrying a tray laden with a coffee service and variety of pastries. Raphael nodded good morning to her. She acknowledged his greeting, but didn’t smile. He’d known her professionally for years, both as a pack member and as Lucas’s assistant, but he’d never really gotten to know her personally. She was an attractive, single, middle-aged woman: efficient, intelligent, and damned near invisible. Tatya had recommended her for the position when Alice Corona had retired to Florida. She and the alpha female were best friends.

Claire’s pretty face was pale, her eyes wide, but she made no comment regarding the spectacle Tatya had made in leaving, simply set the tray silently on the desk between the two men and hastened to the door.

Lucas poured, speaking as he did so. “You are in charge of the pack. You are to be
true
Alpha. You do
not
have to consult anyone regarding your decisions. I will support any choices you make.” Lucas raised his voice considerably on the last sentence, making sure his secretary and his wife would hear – judging from the scents flowing through the open door, both were lingering in the hall.

“The Chief Justice has asked that we train the cat for the first six months. I
hope
you will honor that request, but again, you will be
completely in charge!”
Lucas shook his head. He took a long pull of coffee from his mug before continuing. When he did, his tone was rueful. “I’m leaving you a mess. I’m sorry for that. Apparently while my attention was elsewhere, discipline around here… slipped.”

“Nothing irretrievable has happened,” Raphael reassured him.

“I’m not so sure.” Lucas took another drink of coffee. “Cm a hunch, after hearing the witness statements last night, I called your niece in for a meeting. I wanted to find out just what the children had been told about Candy Streeter.”

Raphael’s eyes widened with surprise. Yet again, he and Lucas had been thinking very much alike. He probably should have expected it. After all, they’d worked together for a long time. Still, he did have to wonder why Lucas had asked Holly when he could just as easily talked to his own son. “What did you find out?”

“My wife decided that it would be ‘too traumatic’ to the youngsters to learn that Candy had died because her body wasn’t capable of the change. She didn’t want to make them afraid of what is ‘essentially a perfectly natural process.’”

Raphael grimaced. He could actually feel the muscles in his shoulders and neck tightening into knots. “What
did
she tell them?”

“That Mr. Streeter got transferred in his job and the family moved to join the Alaska pack.”

“So nobody – none of her friends or classmates – has a clue that Candy’s dead?” Raphael leaned back, running his hands through his hair. That explained Mike’s words of last night. More to the point, it explained the overall attitude of most of the pack. While losing a human to an attempted change was a tragedy, one of the few
good
things it did was reinforce
why
the rules existed, and the punishments were so severe. Tatya’s decision had taken even that small consolation away, rendering Candy’s death totally pointless.

“No. They don’t.”

Raphael reached for his cup. The first drink of coffee scalded his tongue, but it bought him time to consider how he was going to handle the situation. It needed to be dealt with. To his mind, the sooner the better, before there was another “incident.” The events of last night just reinforced how far discipline had slipped. What he did might well set the tone of his rule for the duration. Raphael didn’t hesitate. “That’s not acceptable.” He said firmly.

Lucas nodded in agreement as Raphael continued. “As head of Wolven, you should have access to the video recording from that night.”

“I’m sure there’s one in the file.”

“I’d like to borrow a copy. I assume that the pack still has contact information on Melody and David Streeter?”

“I’ll check with Claire. If it’s not in the files, I can get it for you.” Lucas used a fountain pen to scratch a note on the yellow legal pad on the desk in front of him, accepting Raphael’s requests as though they were orders from the territory’s alpha. It felt very strange to him.

“I’d appreciate it.” Raphael blew on his coffee for a second, and took another long drink. Now that his tongue had healed itself, the brew tasted positively wonderful, much better than the cup he’d bought at the drive-through earlier.

“May I ask what you’re planning?” Lucas raised his brows a bit, but there was only curiosity in his scent, not disapproval or anger.

He nodded. “It’ll take a few days, but as soon as I can arrange it we’re going to have a school assembly and full pack meeting.”

“You’re planning on flying the Streeters in?” Lucas didn’t sound surprised. Then again, Raphael reflected, it was the kind of thing he would do. The two men were alike in many ways. They definitely shared more than a few opinions on how a pack should be ruled. It was one reason they’d made such a good team all these many years.

“I’ll ask
David
if he’ll come. I’m not sure Melody could handle reliving that night. She tried to commit suicide after, you know.”

“No, I didn’t.” A puff of sorrow, and possibly guilt, wafted off Lucas, only to disappear in the discreet ventilation system. He sighed. “David will come if
you
ask.” Lucas gave a sad shake of his head. “They know how hard you tried to save her. You drained yourself to the dregs that night.”

“It didn’t work.” Raphael didn’t bother to hide his bitterness. He’d done his best, exhausted himself so completely he’d been useless for days.

“No, but they know you tried. And, they know that you put in a good word for them when they applied for a foster child from the breeding program a couple of years ago.”

“How’d they find
that
out?”

“You know how hard it is to keep a secret around here.”

Raphael gave a snort of acknowledgment. That was the God’s honest truth. It was one of the things that annoyed him most about pack living. There was absolutely no privacy.

“This is going to take a bit of work to manage.” Lucas pursed his lips in thought for a moment before he continued. “I’ll tell Claire to report to you. She can make the arrangements at this end. I’ll take care of things with Wolven. Still, it’ll probably be a few days before you can pull it off.”

Raphael nodded in acknowledgment of the timetable, but thought he’d better comment on the rest. “Are you sure? Claire’s
your
secretary. I doubt she’d appreciate being handed over like part of the office furniture.”

“Raphael, Claire’s the
pack
secretary. If I tell her to report to you, it’ll reinforce that
you
are the one in charge.” He gave a rueful smile. “I’ll talk to her first, of course; explain the situation. And for God’s sake be nice to her. I don’t want her to quit.”

“I’m
always
nice, Lucas.”

“Riiiiiight.”
The amused expression on the older man’s face disappeared as quickly as it came. “Have you decided what you are going to do about Tatya?”

Raphael sighed. He set his empty coffee cup back on the tray. He was starting to get a headache… again. “I’m not going to be able to do
anything
about the Wolven investigation, or the council. Those wheels are already in motion, and you know as well as I do that anything I said in those circles would only make things worse.”

Lucas nodded his assent.

Raphael sighed again. He knew he had burned his bridges with the council decades before. Most of them delighted in holding a grudge. One or two might even happily hand Raphael’s head to Jack on a platter if they thought they could get away with it. He couldn’t undo the past, but it was going to make the rest of his life a lot harder than it needed to be.

“I could claim damages – have Betty give her a beating, but you and I both know that would be utterly useless. As fast as she heals it’d be over so quickly she wouldn’t take time to really
think
about what she’s done.”

“Which leaves?”

“Humiliation,” Raphael said with a sigh. “Utter, long-term humiliation. Once she gets past her wounded pride she’ll
think
about how she wound up in the situation and take responsibility for her actions.”