The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) (36 page)

She
crumpled to the ground, wheezing. Each breath felt like she was breathing
through a straw. Pain bloomed across her stomach, even to her rib cage. Muscles
bunched and pulled with the simple act of breathing.

Sitting
on her knees, she saw his feet come up before her. She’d cut a tear in his
pants. Against pale skin, she saw a trickle of blood pooling. Her cut hadn’t
done nearly as much damage as his kick.

He
knelt down in front of her and reached to pick her up again. Suddenly, a surge
of power came over her and the pain in her stomach abated. She grabbed for the
knife, but he quickly snatched her wrist and squeezed until pain exploded where
he touched. The blade dropped to the floor. He took it.

And
then she did something that surprised them both. She ripped off his mask.

She
sputtered to say something as recognition kicked in.

“Will?”

His
mouth slammed closed and then a fist connected to her face. The blow hit her
like a brick to the face. She’d never been hit in the face. The pain was
something else. The brunt of his hard knuckles hit near the eye and an
explosion of agony erupted at the spot. Her eye socket vibrated. Fiery-hot pain
blared at the area in an angry welt that spread hurt all over her face.

Worst
of all, and probably due to how close to her eye he hit her, she struggled to
hold her eye open. It dropped at half-mast, the swelling starting and growing
rapidly.

His
arms wrapped around her waist, the pain from the kick making her sob, and then
he lifted her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold and took off out the
backdoor.

She
couldn’t keep her eyes open. The jarring movement as he ran only bolstered the
pain in her ribs and face. Her entire brain jostled as though it’d been slammed
against something really hard. Oh, right, it had—his fist.

As
lulling pain encompassed her senses, overwhelming her into submission, she only
had one last thought—
don’t let me die without Gavin knowing I love him.

CHAPTER 22

Shit.
“I fucked up,” Gavin said.

Hart
looked up at him briefly. “What’d you do now?”

“I
said some shit to Alicia today. Shouldn’t have done it.”

Hart
went back to his notebook. “So, apologize.”

“Yeah.”

Hart
jotted something in his notebook and slapped it closed. “Okay, now when we go
back in there we’ll change it up. We’ll hit Harry next and push him till he
talks. We’re going to start laying out the evidence before him, but let me do
this. We gotta do it slowly, try to get him to talk and open up about it. If we
play our cards right, he’ll be talking before he knows it.”

“Fine.”

Hart’s
eyes narrowed. “Hey, you here today or what? If you got some shit to square
away then get it done. I’m not gonna have this interrogation fucked because you
can’t stop thinking about her.”

A
flash came to mind of two dead children, twelve-year-old Emma and fourteen-year-old
Anthony. They’d been dating and now they were both dead. They still had no
answers, but Gavin knew that Harry and Marcus had something to do with it. They
were closer than ever to nailing the bastards. Closer to figuring out who had
run Alicia and Jo off the road and poisoned their meat.

At
Hart’s nod, they entered the room they’d set up for the interrogation. It was in
the pack’s main office where they ran the business side things. They even had a
small jailhouse in the cellar. The room consisted of three chairs and a long
folding table. Harry sat across the table with his arms handcuffed behind his
back. His brother, Marcus, waited in the jail down below.

“Back
so soon?” Harry drawled.

Gavin
crossed his arms and sat back. This wasn’t his area of expertise. Hart, on the
other hand, looked so relaxed he could have been on a beach enjoying sun rays.
He whistled a tune as he reached into his briefcase and took out a manila
folder.

“You
guys are a bunch of schmucks. Thinkin’ you got shit on me. You don’t have
nothin’ ’cause I haven’t done nothin’.”

“Aside
from your terrible grammar, we have a lot on you, Harry,” Hart began. “See, we
waited until we had sufficient evidence before we made a move. Now, it just so
happens that the evidence I have here points straight to you. I won’t lie to
you

---”

“Bullshit!”
he snapped. “The MacKellens are nothin’ but liars!”

Hart
continued, “I won’t lie to you, but this is damning stuff right here.” He
tapped his finger on the file.

Harry
shook his head in disbelief. “Such bullshit, man. We didn’t do shit. I didn’t
do shit. You’re sniffin’ up the wrong tree.”

“Why
don’t you tell me about the night Emma died?”

“I
already told you. I was at home watching TV with David and Marcus.”

“Hmm,
okay. We’ll be bringing him in to verify his statement with yours of course.”

Harry
tensed, a snarl lifting his mouth. “You motherfucker. Don’t touch my little brother!
I’ll—”

Hart
leaned forward, all gentle in the face and professional. “You’ll what?”

Harry’s
shoulders shook with anger before he leaned back, once again close-mouthed.

“All
right, then. What were you watching?”

“Huh?”

“The
night that Emma Linchman was found murdered, what were you watching on TV?”

Harry
looked down, his jaw grinding. “Some stupid shit. I don’t know the name of it.
One of them reality type shows.”

“What
channel was it on?” Hart asked.

“Hell
if I know. We just flipped through the channels till we found something to
watch. Lots of people do it.”

“Where
was Marcus?”

“Asleep.
I don’t know. Not like I watch every move he makes.”

Hart
ran his finger down a file in the folder. “Let’s move on to something else. Have
you ever rented a car, Harry?”

“So
what? Is that a crime in this pack now?”

Gavin
leaned forward, a growl around his words. “It is when that car is used to try
to kill my mate.”

Two
faces turned to look at him in surprise. “Mate?” Hart asked, looking both
confused and amused.

Damn.
No use arguing now, he’d publically claimed her as mate and he’d have to stick
to it. He might have smiled if he didn’t feel like shit about how he acted that
morning. “She is my mate. Any wrong done to her is a wrong done to me.”

“Ah
hell,” Harry muttered, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t do shit to her. I could give
a fuck about her.”

“It’s
been long noted in the pack that you’ve always had a vendetta against Jo
MacKellen. He was in the car that night,” Hart added.

Harry
glared. “Good for him then. Too bad he didn’t get hurt.”

“Did
you rent a black Ford Explorer the night Alicia Clarkson and Jo MacKellen were
rammed off the road?” Hart asked.

Harry
pretended to think about. “You know, can’t say that I did seeing as I was with
my brothers at home.”

Hart
fidgeted and scratched the back of his neck. He wasn’t actually uncomfortable,
Gavin noted, but playing the part. “See, here’s the problem, Harry. I’ve got
three witnesses that all saw someone with your description there that day. An
innocent bystander named Michael Givens had his wallet stolen from a restaurant
outside the pack. His ID and credit card were used for the rental just fifteen
minutes away from the pack.”

“I
never even went anywhere that day. Did you actually show anyone a picture of
me? Or did you just give these three ‘witnesses’ a broad description? In that
case, I sound like a million other people. Great detective work. Blond man,
tall and white. I’m sure I’m the only one out there.”

“Well
see, it just so happens that someone matching your description was seen renting
the car and dropping it off at the gas station after the crime. Three different
people, all recognizing your description on that night.”

“It
wasn’t me.”

“All
right then. Tell us where you were that night.”

“At
home, with my brothers.”

“What
were you doing?”

Harry’s
jaw clenched. “Watching TV.”

“Ya’ll
watch a lot of TV. I don’t have much time for that myself,” Hart said.

“Yeah,
’cause you’re too busy snoopin’ up the wrong tree.”

Hart
leaned back in his chair, slinging one arm behind it. Gavin couldn’t help but
feel fierce pride at his brother. Only a few years younger, Hart was the second
eldest and a good detective.

“Let’s
talk about something else now. I noticed that you were working on the day Gavin
ordered two steaks to be sent to the house. Did you cut the meat yourself?”

Harry
fell quiet, his eyes downcast.

“See,
I already talked to your manager, Adam Lane, and he says you were working in
the back at the time of the order. Meaning you had to butcher up that meat
yourself.”

Still
not looking up, Harry said, “I just butcher the meat. That’s all I do. I don’t
see who orders it. I get an order for two rib-eyes and I cut the damn rib-eye.
Simple. Plus, I wasn’t there alone. Though I guess you’re ignorin’ that little
fact, aren’t ya? So tell me, have you asked Will where he was the night those
kids died?”

Harry’s
cackling laughter filled the room.

“Hell
no, can’t look at little brother. The MacKellens never do no harm. Nope.”

His
laughter snapped something inside Gavin. Gavin stood, sending his chair flying
behind him and grabbed the little shit by his shirt, yanking him out of his
chair. “Watch your mouth before I make it so you can’t talk no more.”

The
bastard grinned. “You’re so busy thinkin’ it’s me or one of my brothers that you
haven’t bothered looking at the other person. Will was working right there with
me. Quiet as always. Besides, I can’t say for sure if it was me or him that cut
that meat for you. All I know, sure as fuck, is I didn’t tamper with nothin’.”
Suddenly all the laughter died from his face. “When you die, it won’t be over
some pussy poison or cowardly car accident. You’ll die face-to-face with your
killer and then the rightful alpha will take his place.”

Gavin
slammed his fist into the bastard’s mouth for good measure. Fortunately, Hart
was there to drag him out of the room because he pulled his arm back for more.
He wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to stop himself from killing him. Just for
those accusations alone he deserved a beating.

Hart
shoved him into an empty office, slamming the door behind them. “Get a hold of
yourself!”

“Get
a hold of myself? You heard what he said!” Gavin roared, his breathing jacked.

Hart’s
eyes were calculating. “I know you’re pissed about what he said, but what I
need you to see now is that he slipped up.”

He
felt like he was trying to jump onto a truck that was already moving,
desperately trying to grab hold. “What are you talking about?”

“He
said ‘when you die, the rightful alpha will take his place.’ ”

Those
words slowly penetrated over the anger. “There we go, deep breaths, big boy. So
you see, this interrogation has been informative.”

“They
want to kill me for beating Marcus in the alpha challenge, but he’s right. The
car accident had nothing to do with me, except that by hurting Alicia it hurts
me, but that isn’t a physical pain. And what they want is physical. Marcus
wouldn’t poison me. He wants to beat me to a bloody mess with his bare hands.
The only cowardly thing Marcus has ever done was…” Gavin touched the ropes of
scars on his face. “He only did that as a way to publically brand me, put his
mark on me so he’d always know that at least he got me in some way.”

“Hey,
I don’t want to have to do this, but we have to talk about Will.”

Gavin
looked away. It was like some truths were staring him straight in the face but
he couldn’t stand to face it. “What? Don’t tell me you believe that bullshit he’s
spewing. He’ll point the finger anywhere but at himself or his brothers. You
and I both know that.”

“Yeah,
I know that,” Hart conceded. “But I’m going to have to look into this and
remove Will as a possible suspect.”

“A
suspect. Will could never have killed those kids. Not in a million years, Hart.”

Hart
was nodding. “I know, so it’ll be easy to clear him of that. I don’t think he
did it either. But, Gav, the other thing is a whole different matter.”

They
grew quiet, both lost in their thoughts.

Could
Will have poisoned the meat? All because he was angry with Gavin? “That doesn’t
make sense, Hart. If he poisoned the meat to get back at me ’cause he’s mad,
then why try to hurt Alicia?”

Hart
paused, then said, “As you said earlier…to hurt you. Maybe to make her leave.
Something like that would cut you deep at this point.”