Linked (5 page)

He felt the air move around him,
thick with tension as he waited for her response.

“Why are you angry?” she
whispered in surprise.

He blew out a sigh and tried to
rein in his temper. She’d only been doing what she thought was right. “I guess
I’m a little on the protective side, Lana. I’m sorry I jumped on you, I just
don’t want to see anything happen to you.”

“I only meant that you’ve done
more than enough, and I don’t want you to be obligated to do more,” she
muttered.

“I’ve already addressed that.
We’re in this together, Lana,” he replied, adding a pointed stare for good
measure.

“Okay.”

“The sooner we have answers, the
sooner I’ll know you’re safe.”

He’d never been the overly-macho
type. What was it about her that made him feel this overwhelming protectiveness
towards her?

Things were getting…difficult,
confusing. They were happening too fast, and he didn’t have the time to analyze
all the pieces of it yet.

He felt her eyes on the back of
his head and turned to look at her. By the speculative look in them, he knew he
had to tread carefully. She had good reason to be wary. “It’s just that I keep
thinking about what could have happened last night,” he explained, his tone
quiet. “Between that and what you’ve told me about your mother, I’m very
concerned you’re in danger. I don’t think last night was a chance incident,
Lana.”

“I know that, too, Cole.”

“Let’s get out of here. We’re not
going to find any answers sitting around here doing nothing.”

“Let me grab my purse and the
keys.” She left the room without another word.

Cole watched her walk away and
sighed. Her anxiety reached him even as she walked away. He didn’t know what to
do about it, wasn’t sure anything could be done about it at this point.

As he waited, his mind wandered
back to the wolf. That was one of the big questions he wanted answered. He had
a few people he could call that may or may not have some information on that
front.

She walked back into the room a
few moments later and he forced a smile. “Ready?”

“As ready as I’m ever going to
be,” she said. “We just need to get this over with.” She paused on her way to
the door. “I just want you to know I think this is a waste of time. I don’t
think we’re going to find much at her house.”

He nodded and hoped like hell
that she was wrong. If she wasn’t, then they didn’t have the first lead other
than a wolf with no scent that could disappear and an intruder that had no
human scent. He was sure they were one and the same. At this point, he hoped
they were. One threat was more than enough.

§§§

The Evil One sat on his haunches
beside Lana’s apartment building, his ears perked as he listened to the sound
of footsteps walking outside. The woman and man were so foolish...so human.

The man might prove to be a small
obstacle, however. He had not expected him to be a shifter. Even with that
little surprise, he did not worry. He would take care of them both.

He still wondered how she had
eluded him earlier. She could not have done it alone. He had kept his eye on
her for years and knew she had no real power. The mother had not told the woman
about him, he was sure.

That left the shifter.

How the man had managed to shield
the woman from his senses he did not know. Even among shifters, that was not
something he had heard of or even believed possible. Puzzling, granted, but
nothing that concerned him.

He would prevail.

Soon he would be at full power
once more. He relished the thought of what he would do to humankind when that
day came.

The world would be his once again
as soon as he rid it of two simple humans.

After that…the world would suffer
and bow before him.

CHAPTER FOUR

Twenty minutes later, Lana sat
quietly next to him in the car, wondering what he expected to find at her
mother’s house. She had been through the house herself, sorting and sifting
through her things. The things that meant most to her mother—jewelry, antiques,
pictures, knick-knacks—had been placed in storage or taken to her own house and
the rest would be, or had been, taken to the local thrift store. Of course,
some things she couldn’t part with, regardless of how useless they would be.
Some things she kept purely for their sentimental value.

Throughout her search, she didn’t
find anything that stuck out. Nothing that said
‘Here’s the reason the bad
guys are after you!
’ But let him search. Maybe he would notice something
she hadn’t, or maybe he’d find a hidden room.

“Make a right at the next light,”
she said, finally breaking the silence. “It’s a pale blue house about a half
mile down on the left. You can’t miss it. It’s the only house for about half a
mile.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she
saw him nod. “Okay, thanks.”

Cole pulled into the driveway,
put the car in park, and shut off the engine. “Are you sure you’re okay with
this?”

Good question
. Was she okay
with this?

A minute passed before she turned
her head in his direction, first looking at the house, then at his face. “I
guess it’s time to find out,” she said and reached for the door handle.

Before she had a chance to open
the car door, he grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. She opened her
mouth to question him, but her response died out as his mouth came down over
hers, hard and fast.

The kiss had been quick, heated.
Demanding and…cinnamony. Before she could react and deepen the kiss, her lips
grew chilled by the absence of his.

Didn’t see that one coming, she
thought, slightly breathless. Not because she didn’t know he was attracted to
her—she’d felt that much. Nevertheless, it caught her off guard, something that
happened rarely. Or, rather, something that, until yesterday, used to happen
rarely.

She didn’t see fireworks, but
there had been stars. Her original thought about him looking potent was only
half-true. He was potent. If he made love like he kissed….

Her mouth tingled. His lips
weren’t anywhere near hers, but she thought she could still feel them on her
mouth.

Part of her wanted to ask him
what the hell he was doing. The other half wanted to pull him back by the lapel
of his shirt and leave him breathless. So much had happened and continued to
happen. Could she handle this attraction to him on top of everything else?

Opening her eyes, she met his
intense gaze. His normally bright green eyes were now clouded with restrained
desire.

Her planned witty response turned
into, “What was that for?”

“It just seemed like the thing to
do,” he said with an easy smile as he released her from his arms and reached
for his door handle.

It just seemed like the thing to
do? Well. She wasn’t normally the forward type, but if he didn’t try that
again, and soon, she would definitely take the initiative. Consequences be
damned.

As Lana got out of the car, she
glanced around. The once colorful array of flowers needed tending to. And the
house could use a coat of paint. She and her mother had made plans to do that
during the summer.

Lana walked up the stairs and
stood next to Cole on the porch. This was the first time she’d been back in
over a month. She just couldn’t bring herself to, until now. She reached into
her purse and pulled out the keys to the house. Taking a deep breath, she
unlocked the door and pushed it open.

Holding her breath, she stepped
inside.

Nothing had changed, but it
seemed like something should have. There should be books everywhere, music
playing, the smell of flowers coming through the open windows. Her mother.

“The electricity should still be
on,” she said, her tone thick with emotion. “My mother had it on one of those
budget plans, so it’s paid until the end of next month. She liked having her
bills paid before they were due, so any that could be paid for in advance
were.”

She was rambling, and she didn’t
care. “I loved growing up here. It was always warm and welcoming. Now
it’s…lifeless.”

He took her hand in his,
squeezing gently. “What are you going to do with it?”

“I don’t know,” she replied,
shaking her head. “I had always assumed I would move in eventually, but
eventually keeps getting further away.” She turned, glanced at him, and studied
the bare-bones room. “I should put it on the market if I’m not going to move
in, but I keep hoping it’ll feel right someday.” Today, though, would not be
that day.

Pushing aside the bittersweet
memories, she led Cole down the hall. “I guess the most logical place to start
would be with her office, or her bedroom. Those were the main places she kept any
documents. I didn’t throw any of those away.” She didn’t need to elaborate that
she hadn’t been able to bring herself to go through her mother’s papers, except
those she needed. Eventually, most of it would go in storage, but that would
have to wait until she could deal with things a little easier. Right now,
everything played too fresh in her mind. “We can start in the office,” she
suggested.

“Sounds good to me. Lead the
way,” he said, staring at her intently.

Lana walked toward the stairs,
glancing around as she did. There would be no point putting things into storage
until she knew exactly what she planned on doing.

To keep them protected from dust,
Lana had covered the couch, loveseat, and chairs. The bookshelf in the corner
of the living room stood empty. She had packed and taken those books with her
to keep for herself. If she came across duplicates, she took her own copies to
the bookstore and kept her mother’s.

“How many rooms does this house
have, anyway?” Cole asked as he followed her up the stairs.

She glanced behind her. His lips
were curled up slightly, just enough to tell her he liked what he saw. That
pleased her on several levels.

Her mother’s house had been her
pride and joy. “It has four bedrooms and two and a half baths. Mom converted
one bedroom into an office. And, of course, the living room, dining room, and
kitchen.” Duh. Of course it had a living room and kitchen, she thought, more
than a little flustered at her rambling.

They reached the top landing, and
Lana entered the second room on the left. “This was her office.”

“Did you already take the books?”
he asked.

“Yeah, we had similar tastes in
novels.”

She sat down in the computer
chair, reached for the desk drawer, and pulled it open. It wasn’t as organized
as it had been during her last visit. She knew, because she had personally gone
through each and every one, sifting and boxing any papers that had to do with
her house, cars, bills…her mother’s will.

Maybe she wasn’t as organized as
her mother was, but she left things the way she found them since everything was
labeled and she didn’t have to search for anything.

Thinking perhaps she was
mistaken, Lana yanked open the second and bottom drawers and found them in a
similar state to the first.

She frowned. “Someone’s been
through these,” she said with certainty.

Though her tone had been quiet,
Cole heard her and walked over to the desk. “Are you sure?”

The chair squeaked as she
swiveled to face him. “Yes. She kept her drawers perfectly organized. She was a
bit OCD,” she admitted with a shrug. “When I went through them before, I left
the drawers how I found them.”

“She didn’t have a friend or
lawyer she trusted to go through her things or anything like that?”

“As far as I know, no, but I
guess I can check on that.” She said nothing more of it and continued their
search. Neither the office nor bedroom turned up anything useful. “Want a tour
of the place?” she asked.

Cole looked up, noticed the
attic. “What’s up there?”

“Nothing. It’s just the attic.”

“You never checked?”

She shook her head. “No. They
have bees and bats and things that go crawl in the night.”

He leaned against the doorjamb
before responding, his arms folded across his broad chest. “You don’t like bees
and bats?”

“No.” She couldn’t quite suppress
a slight shudder.

“You’re not terrified to stay in
your apartment alone after someone breaking in, but you’re scared of a little
ole bee?” he teased.

“No. And if you must know, I’m
not scared of them. I’m terrified of them. Bats with their little wings and
vampire fangs and bloodsucking ways and bees with their buzzing and giant
stingers,” she said as a shiver ran through her body. The thought of them alone
was enough to scare her.

Lana watched, eyes narrowed, as
he tried to hold back a laugh. If he laughed at her, she’d deck him. Really hard.

When he didn’t seem to be
controlling it well, she glared more. Obviously, he wasn’t concerned since he
reared his head back and laughed. She felt no sympathy whatsoever as his head
rammed into the doorjamb.

That shut you up
.  She
smiled sweetly with a ‘you-deserved-that-jerk’ look.

§§§

Cole stopped laughing immediately
and rubbed the back of his head. She was, at least, nice enough not to laugh,
but she still smiled.

He shook his head. “I’ll go up
alone and have a quick look around,” he offered, still rubbing his head.

“If you don’t see any bees or
killer vampire bats, I may join you. But if there is so much as an odd buzzing
sound, you’re on your own. And if so much as a dust particle comes down from
there, I’m running for the hills,” she warned him.

Cole grinned as she glowered.
Apparently, almost giving himself a concussion wasn’t enough to soften her up.
He filed that detail away for later. No sympathy for a manly show of pain.
Mentally, he snorted. Well, he’d just have to work harder to get her sympathy
if he needed to in the future.