Pack Justice (Nature of the Beast Book 1) (5 page)

In a week, everything would change, and I wondered if the weekend would leave us with any happy memories. My doubts lured a sigh out of me, and I headed downstairs to wait for the cab, leaving Idette to scramble for something to wear. “Don’t forget your identification,” I called over my shoulder.

“As if I’d do something that stupid. Don’t forget yours. You’re the one who made us miss our flight last time, jerk.”

As tempting as purposefully leaving my wallet behind was, it was already in my pocket. “I have my passport. That was an accident.”

“Sure it was.”

I scowled and hurried down the steps to put an end to the discussion, hoping she wouldn’t continue it once we were in the cab. While Idette had a sharp tongue, she dressed fast and was downstairs five minutes before the driver arrived. I picked up our bags to carry to the car.

“You’re not taking your briefcase?” she demanded, locking the door behind us.

My cheetah snarled at Idette, slashing at my wife’s ankles with his claws. As always, his strikes were ineffective against her.

Ignoring my spirit beast’s antics, I headed down the sidewalk to the driveway. “I’ve already done my preparation work for my next case.”

“When do you go to trial?”

“Next week.”

“You told me to take at least a week.”

At the displeasure in my wife’s voice, I sighed. The driver got out of his car, opened the trunk, and took the bags from me. I held the door open for Idette, and she slid into the back seat. I joined her, buckling my seatbelt. “You needed the time off. My cases were shuffled because of the Roberts trial. I can’t help the docket, and I couldn’t pass the next trial to someone else. Not enough notice.”

It was all the truth, although I had been careful in my case planning. Judge O’Mallory had helped there, too.

I really owed him a nice bottle of wine for his help. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get the divorce papers filed. While they’d hang over my head the entire weekend, with them handed off to be served, I had something to look forward to.

My cop friends were right; I should have served Idette the divorce papers years ago. I had a list of excuses and reasons a mile long, but my reservations all revolved around the fact I had promised her a lifetime together.

When we had first met, I had enjoyed every moment with her. Now I dreaded them.

People changed, and some vows couldn’t be kept, not without me becoming a statistic like Marcello feared.

“You could have given the case over to someone else.” Idette scowled at me, shook her head, and stared out the window.

No matter what I said, she’d be right and I’d be wrong, so I kept quiet. Instead of taking over my lap, my cheetah sat on the floor, avoiding my feet. He rested his chin on my knee and purred. His unhappiness chilled me; I understood he purred to soothe both of us rather than express his happiness.

I wanted to pet him and bury my fingers in his fur, but I didn’t dare.

It was a long, uncomfortable ride to the airport.

When we landed in Albany, Idette focused all of her attention on figuring out where we were going. I was grateful she was too busy trying to solve the puzzle of where I was taking her for her to notice I had opted for an economy vehicle rather than the SUVs or luxury sedans she preferred.

On the roads we would be traveling, a larger car was asking for trouble. I drove without saying a word, and Idette was too busy playing with the maps on her phone to talk to me. When I hit the highway heading north of Saratoga Springs, she blurted, “Lake George!”

“Why would anyone go there?” I replied, trying my best to sound confused. “There’s nothing there. It’s a tiny little village in the woods.”

“In the woods next to a lake,” Idette growled. “What do you have against nature?”

From his place on the backseat, my spirit beast hissed at my wife.

“Mosquitos.”

“Wuss.” The disgust in her tone had me wrinkling my nose, and to placate her, I said, “There’s a lodge near the water I reserved for the weekend, as I thought you might like it.”

“Bullshit. You don’t go anywhere near water
or
trees.”

If she knew how many times I ran through the few forests near Los Angeles as a cheetah, she’d never forgive me for refusing to go out with her.

I liked trees and water well enough when I was by myself to enjoy them.

When she was sound asleep, I had every intention of running as long and fast as my spirit beast allowed me to, until I couldn’t run a step farther. I’d end up limping all the way back to the cabin, but it would be well worth the price.

“Scout’s honor.”

“You were never a scout.” The way she hissed her words implied I lacked honor as well, but I pretended not to notice her tone.

Some fights weren’t worth having.

“I booked about a year ago, since the lodges tend to be in high demand. It’s late season, so some of the tourist attractions are closed, but it’ll be quiet at least.”

“We’re really going to a lodge? In the woods?”

“There’s even a lake. From what I understand, it’s a pretty big one, too.”

“Why?”

Leaving Idette had been on my mind when I had made the reservation, and the chance to salvage what we had once enjoyed together had committed me to one final attempt to make our marriage worth keeping. Raising my voice wasn’t the way I did things, but I couldn’t keep the sharpness out of my tone when I replied, “I thought you’d like it.”

Idette never apologized for anything she did. In my idiocy, I chose to believe there was some sort of plea for forgiveness in her silence. It was pride, pure and simple, but I hated admitting it.

Admitting meant I had willingly remained trapped in a bad situation bound to get worse before it got better. When Idette found out my intentions to divorce her and cut her permanently out of my life, she’d snap.

If I didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire, I needed to make my great escape.

Begging for my cheetah’s help and running into the hills, as far as I could go, was sounding better and better.

We spent the rest of the ride in silence. Well, Idette did.

I listened to my spirit beast’s unhappy wails the entire trip. When spitting curses at my wife didn’t appease the feline, he took to pawing at my hair, which I had to ignore to avoid criticism and suspicion from Idette.

When—if—I made it back to Los Angeles, I’d have to sit down with Marcello and admit he had been right all along. With Idette, my best wasn’t good enough, and it never would be.

The whole idea of a trip was a mistake, but there was nothing I could do about it. If I had been wise, I would have used the stalker’s photographs of me as an excuse to cancel. There was nothing I could do about it, so I’d do what I always did. I’d make the best of a bad situation and hope everything worked out.

Whether satisfied by my thoughts or tired of trying to annoy me, my cheetah retreated, stretched out on the back seat, and huffed his disapproval.

The lodge wasn’t nearly as remote as I was hoping, but our log cabin was large and faced the lake, not far from where the water lapped at the beach. As I had requested, a pair of kayaks waited for us. Inside, there would be a bottle of wine and groceries for the weekend in the fridge.

Idette turned in a slow circle before staring out over the water. “I like it.”

It was the closest I’d gotten to gaining her approval in months, and I basked in the glow of not being on her bad side for a change. “I’m glad.”

It was the truth; if she was happy, maybe I wouldn’t end up with another set of bite marks to match the ones healing on my shoulder.

My cheetah rubbed against my legs and purred, but I couldn’t tell if he was purring because he was happy to be out of the car or if he was trying to comfort me. With my wife’s attention fixated on the lake, I risked lowering my hand to scratch my spirit beast between his ears. He bumped my palm with his head and purred louder.

Soon, sometime after nightfall, we’d stretch our legs and run. I longed for the feel of fur and four legs instead of two, for however long my spirit beast welcomed me. My cheetah’s purring intensified, and his pleasure at my thoughts warmed me.

“Let’s walk around the lake when the moon comes up tonight,” Idette said, spinning around to face me. Her cheeks were flushed and her dark eyes reflected the sunlight. “You’ll come, won’t you?”

I wanted to sigh, but I swallowed the urge. My plans, all of half a minute old, crumbled to dust with her question. After a walk, she’d probably be far too energized to want to sleep, leaving me unable to slip away until the wee hours of the morning.

I’d try, but I’d probably have to put off my plans to run as a cheetah until the next night. “Sure.”

“Really?”

“If you want to walk along the lake after dark, we can.”

Did Lake George have bears in the woods? I wondered what sort of beasts we’d run into on our walk. They didn’t concern me much; natural animals found my cheetah’s presence disconcerting, so they left me alone. While he couldn’t affect the real world, he did a good job of keeping me safe enough in the wilds. He also affected domesticated pets, but I didn’t mind; with my cheetah for a companion, I didn’t need or want affection from other sources, Idette included.

Then again, I hadn’t had much interest in women after the first couple of times she had bitten me. Pain was a good deterrent and far more effective than a cold shower at smothering any desire I might have had for my wife.

I wondered if I’d end up a proper man once I was divorced from Idette.

The way my cheetah purred at my thoughts, I nursed the hope I would.

“I’m going inside.” Idette strode up the steps, paused to scrutinize the deck, and entered the cabin. Spitting curses at my wife, my cheetah swiped his claws in her direction despite her being beyond his reach.

“Patience,” I whispered, both as a reminder to myself and to my cheetah, who hissed at me for daring to criticize him.

Cats. I couldn’t live with him, and I didn’t want to live without him. Under the guise of heading for the cabin, I flicked my cheetah’s ears. Maybe we wouldn’t get to run, but I looked forward to when he would hop into bed with me and keep me warm.

Next week, everything would change, and I looked forward to starting a new life, one without Idette.

Chapter Four

Idette ignored my presence, which baffled me. Hadn’t I given her what she had wanted? If her complaints over previous vacationing spots were to be believed, I had bundled up as many of her desires and presented them to her a silver platter. I sighed and carried our bags into the cabin before making myself at home on the porch on a rocking chair, which looked out over the lake.

Maybe I hadn’t wanted to go somewhere wild and free with her, but that was as much her fault as it was mine. In that, I was a poor husband.

I didn’t want her spoiling nature for me with her volatile reactions to everything—even when she got exactly what she wanted. Grumbling curses, I propped my feet up on a nearby chair.

Taking advantage of the extra lap space, my cheetah jumped up and made himself comfortable, remaining there until the sunset lit the water with crimson fire. The door creaked open behind me.