Thunder (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 3) (13 page)

“I can’t work for him anymore,” she says the words that she hasn’t admitted to herself up to this point. “I can’t work for someone like that anymore, not for all the tea in China.” She knows that she’ll do what she needs to, what Luke has forced her to do, to make sure that Ashton and the others manage to keep their secret, and then she’ll move on.

“You’re not serious.” Finn looks at her skeptically, but his eyes go wide when it becomes clear that she’s about as serious as it gets. “I mean, I get that Luke is a slime ball and creepy and…”

“And a stalker? I know you haven’t forgotten those cameras you helped me install in my apartment,” she reminds him—although she knows he’s more than aware of her reasons for leaving Shale.

“I get all that, Sofie. But you and I both know that you’re not exactly swimming in options here. What the hell are you going to do?” He looks at her expectantly, fiddling with his thick-rimmed glasses.

“I’ll get a job, like normal people do. I’ll live a life that doesn’t involve being afraid that my boss is going to jump me at any available opportunity!” She tries to laugh at the ridiculousness of her situation, but she knows that she’s more likely to cry than anything else.

“Turn your phone off.” Finn motions towards her bag.

“What? Why?” She looks at him uncertainly, like she’s wondering if he’s screwing with her.

“Just turn your phone off.” He folds his arms waiting for Sofie to do as he’s instructed.

“Alright, Mr. Conspiracy Theory, I’m turning it off.” She holds up her cell to show how she’s obeying orders. “You going to tell me what that was all about?”

“I’m a hacker. I know what’s possible, I don’t plan on running the risk of anyone listening on what I’m about to say.” Finn leans in conspiratorially. Sofie almost rolls her eyes, but the seriousness in his face makes her stop. “What if we can prove that Luke is a slime-ball par excellence? What if we can make sure he gets everything he deserves? Wouldn’t that be reason enough to stay at Shale, at least until we get him?” Finn looks earnestly at her.

“What are you talking about?” Sofie looks at her friend, doubtfully.

“Shale has broken a lot of rules, a lot of laws with what they did to us, hacking our personal emails, our phones, doing what they did to your bank account.” Finn gestures with his hands, as if to say
et al
.

“Yes, and I know how hard it is to prove all of that. You told me so,” Sofie reminds him.

“I just need some more time; it’s not painting by numbers, Sofe!” Finn grumbles irritably, hating it when his expertise is called into question. “I’m not asking you to stick around forever. All I’m asking is for you to be smart. Give me a little time to come up with some proof against Shale, against Luke, something that will actually stand up, something that will send that fucker to jail. Can you do that for me?” Finn’s belief in what he can achieve is so strong it almost convinces Sofie. “Besides, you can’t leave Darwin with all the work on the site; he can’t cope. Between the divorce and the scare he had today, he needs all the help he can get.”

“Thanks for the guilt trip, Finn. But you didn’t need to use the boss against me. You had me at jail.” She clinks bottles with him.

“Sofie Braun, you say the sweetest things to me.” Finn laughs, and Sofie joins him. She feels like it’s been an age since she’s genuinely laughed. There really was a lot to be said for best friends.

They talk for a while longer, and then Sofie catches sight of the time. “It’s an early start tomorrow. I guess I should try to get some sleep before I go all Gorillas in the Mist on the poachers tomorrow.”

Finn nods slowly. He looks like he keeps changing his mind over whether he should ask a question that’s clearly eating at him. The alcohol they’ve consumed gives him the push that he needs. “I’m not the biggest fan of hunting and killing animals, not really my thing. Never been good with blood. I fainted when I had to dissect a frog in Chem class freshman year.”

“Where are you going with this, Finn?” Sofie narrows her eyes, aware that something is up.

“All I’m asking is why are you so bothered about these wolves? It’s not the nicest thing that Shale has ever done, sending in poachers to kill a bunch of animals sure but, news flash, we work for an oil and gas company. They don’t do nice! What’s the deal?” Finn looks at her earnestly, willing her to give him an answer. He figures he’s not asking for much, but it’s a whole lot more than Sofie can give.

“There’s no deal. I just don’t agree with it. I don’t think Luke should have blackmailed his way into Spring Canyon. God knows how much he had to hand over to buy the senator’s approval for the dig. He shouldn’t be able to walk around acting like he can just do whatever he wants, like he can buy or bargain for anything that he likes!” Sofie’s not just talking about the canyon anymore; she’s talking about herself.

Finn squints at her, the alcohol making his brain fuzzy. “You’ve been different ever since we got here, Sofe. You can lie to other people, but not to me.”

She knows that this is another one of those times that she’s hurting Finn by not telling him what he wants to know. However, there’s no way around it. There’s too much at stake for the wolves without adding in someone else that knows the truth about them.

“I know, Finn,” she says and sighs as she gets up from the bed, picking up her high heels, which she had discarded by the door as soon as she walked in. “So don’t make me lie.” She slips out of the door before Finn can respond.

As she unlocks the door to her bedroom, she sighs deeply, pushing it shut behind her with her bare foot. It had been a shitty day, a shitty night, and now she felt like a shitty friend. She wishes that Ashton were there. She wishes that she had just told Lindsey her secret. But then if she had, she would lose Ashton just the same. He would always put the pack above her, above them. There wasn’t any way around that, no matter how she spun it.

***

Lindsey drives to Ashton’s place, beating herself up over what she’s about to do. She doesn’t want to tell Ashton what she saw, she knows what he’s like, how his temper can make him react without thinking. There was far more to the story than meets the eye; Lindsey knows that without having to think too deeply about it. There was more that Sofie wanted to say, but she didn’t trust herself to.
Whatever kind of trouble that girl is in, it’s bad. She’s scared for her friend, really scared
.
And the vision that I had of Sofie covered in blood, screaming, it refuses to go away
, she thinks.

The lights are on in Ashton’s house, and she clatters up the stairs in her heels, but the door is locked. She hammers on it with her fists for good measure, but there’s no sign of him. He’s not there, but Lindsey has a good idea of where she’ll find him.

She sends a message off to Hector telling him not to wait up and then slides her vertiginous heels off and unzips her dress, slipping out of it and letting it drop to the dirt floor. “Ash, you owe me a serious dry cleaning bill,” she mutters to herself as she strips naked. “Here we go.”

As she says the words, she looks up to the starry night sky and her body starts to shift, to move. It’s not a painful process for her anymore, not like the first time. She’s used to the shifting; now, she embraces it instead of fighting against it. She morphs into a chestnut brown wolf. She’s smaller than most of the others, just like she is in her human guise, but you’d be mistaken if you took that to mean that she wasn’t powerful.

Once her four feet hit the ground, she starts running to the tree line, going in search of Ashton. She knows where she’ll find him. They’ve been friends for so long she doesn’t need to use her intuition or ‘second sight’ as the Elders would have called it to reach out to him.

She stops for a moment, lifting her head, scenting the air, and then ploughs on in the same direction. It only takes her a few minutes to travel a distance that it would take a human hours to cover. As she walks into the clearing, Ashton turns around to face her. Being an Alpha, his senses are honed, stronger than any of the others. He would have heard her coming from miles off.

He stands in the middle of the clearing, still in wolf form and again she’s taken aback by his presence. It doesn’t matter how many times she’s seen him as the golden wolf, the impact of it takes her breath away every time. He is exactly what an Alpha should be, so much so that sometimes it was easy to forget his human side.

I thought I’d find you here.
Lindsey doesn’t have to open her mouth to communicate with him. In wolf form, their mind-to-mind connection is strong enough for them to be able to talk to each other telepathically. It was something that only the most talented weres could do.

It’s where I feel most at home, where I feel like I belong
. Ashton looks at the trees around him and the stones, the dark rocks, the same rock that Sofie wears around her neck. It’s the central point of power in the canyon, and for them it was sacred.

That may have been true a few weeks ago, but things have changed. This isn’t where you are most at peace, that’s somewhere else, with someone else.
Lindsey watches as his eyes go from golden to blue, signaling that his human emotions are coming to the fore.

But Ashton clearly isn’t in the mood for a conversation about his feelings for Sofie.
What do you have to tell me?

Lindsey hesitates, trying to work out what she can hold back.

Have you forgotten your promise?
Ashton’s voice is loud in her mind, and she curses herself for allowing him to make her swear to tell him everything. There was no greater vow than a promise shared between pack. She couldn’t betray that.

I didn’t see much. The snake took her to a private room, and I couldn’t get in.
Lindsey looks at the ground, pawing at it, hating what’s coming next.

What did you see?
Ashton is anxious, and he knows that there’s something she doesn’t want to tell him.

I saw them walk out arm-in-arm. I saw the snake give her money in cash. A lot of money.
She closes her eyes against the anger that she can feel brimming out of Ashton.

What else?
His voice in her head is nothing more than a whisper, but its coldness makes her afraid.

Ashton, I don’t know what happened. All I can tell you is what I saw. But don’t make me tell you. Go, speak to her. Talk to her. Let her explain what happened. I shouldn’t even have been there anyway, spying on her. It’s not right
.
She’s your mate, not the enemy.
Lindsey stands her ground despite the anger that she can see brimming in his eyes.

My mate?
Ashton’s laugh is harsh in her ears.
She is not were, Lindsey. She will never be were, and we both know what that means. She can never be my mate. It isn’t possible.

Goddammit Ashton, why do you have to be so stubborn all the damn time?
She nudges him with her snout, prodding him.
She is special; she is important. I know that; you know that; so, let’s just stop pretending like we don’t.

What did you see, Lindsey?
Tell me. I need to hear it all.
Ashton’s voice comes out as if through gritted teeth, like he’s trying to hold back the anger that’s threatening to overcome him. He already knows that what she has to say isn’t good.

The snake leaned in and kissed her on the cheek and thanked her for a great night. Her clothes were…mussed
.
She wouldn’t tell me why he’d given the money or what it was for.
I know that she was hiding something, that she was scared, but she wouldn’t tell me anything else.
Lindsey takes a deep breath, hating herself a little for feeling like she’d just betrayed a friend.
She asked me to tell you something. She knew I was there for you.

Ashton’s head snaps up, looking at Lindsey intensely.
What did she say?

She said that she’s sorry.
Lindsey says the words quietly, as if doing so will strip them of some of their meaning.
We don’t know what happened in that room, Ash. Whatever it was, it had her spooked.

What did you think when you saw her taking money from him? What did you think was going on?
The truth, Lindsey.
Ashton’s voice is angry, like he’s hanging by a thread.

I thought it looked like the snake had finally got what he wanted, which is exactly what he wanted everyone to think.
The guy is a master of disguise, in front of the cameras he’s an everyman, nice guy, but as soon as the cameras are off the real man comes out and he’s not anyone you would want to invite over for dinner to meet your mother.
Lindsey waits for Ashton to do something, to blow up, to roar, to do something, anything. But he remains still and that’s the most disconcerting of all.

What’s that saying about the simple answer usually being the right one?
Ashton’s voice is small and full of pain.

I don’t believe that. You know that she wouldn’t do that, Ash. That’s not Sofie.
Lindsey knows this with every fiber of her being, and she reasons that Ashton must know it, too.

How can you say that? You barely know her? She could be a nun, a whore, a criminal. She hasn’t even been here for two weeks!
Ashton’s voice is an explosion, a roar.