Twin Alphas: Desired (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (10 page)

              “There’s something that’s been bothering me since we got here,” Barron said, as they headed out of town  You know how the townspeople greeted us?”

              Karlie looked puzzled. “Uh, with hatred and contempt? And a shotgun? And threats of arrest?”

              “But not surprise,” Barron said. “It was like they knew we were coming. Which means that somebody must have called up and told them.  Who could that have been?”

              “Well…I mean, nobody knew, except for your brother and Vita. And they wouldn’t have said anything.”

              “Cornelius knew we were looking into the origins of the curse,” Barron said. “This would be the logical place for us to go.”

              Karlie let out a gasp of indignation.

              “Oh, that son of a bitch,” Karlie said. “Of course. He was the one who cursed your fathers way back then.  No wonder none of the curse mages would talk to you.”

              “One of the many things that we still need to prove.”

              “Let’s call Fabian and ask him for a meeting with the guy who owns the Lookback mirror,” Karlie suggested.

              Barron reached for his phone, which was sitting on the center console, but as he did, the phone rang.

              It was Mackenzie, and she sounded frantic. “Look, your family emergency is going to have to wait,” she said.  “Ajax has just been taken in for questioning by the Sentinels. A bartender was murdered, and they’re saying that he did it.”

              “He’s in there,” Mackenzie said, pointing at the concrete building with a shaking finger.  The detention center was usually used to house people who’d committed minor infractions during the festival – drunken bar fights, mostly.  As a rule, Alphas were an honorable bunch; there was very little trouble with them.

Barron and Karlie were still breathless, having run all the way there after sneaking back through the dimensional portal in the woods.

              “How is Ajax? You look beautiful. I missed you,” Barron said, throwing his arms around her and giving her a big hug.

              “Oof. I missed you too.” She had missed him badly. Now that the bonding process had begun, having him travel so far away from her was like a dull ache that never went away. Because Ajax had stayed behind, she didn’t get physically ill when he left, but it didn’t feel right. She felt incomplete with him gone.              “We’ll celebrate your return when we’ve got this all resolved,” she added.  She could feel Barron’s emotions roiling through her.  Anger, fear, worry.  They mirrored her own. She took a deep breath and forced herself to remain calm. “So here’s what happened.  Apparently the bartender from the Tavern On The Hill was found murdered. He’s been dead for at least a couple of days now. His body was in a wooded area, throat cut. Ajax’s scent was on him. The Sentinels came to our cabin and brought Ajax in a couple of hours ago.”

              “That’s ridiculous,” Barron said angrily. “Aside from the complete lack of motive, a wolf would never cut someone’s throat. We’d rip it out with our teeth. The Sentinels are wolves, they freaking know that. They also know that there’s plenty of ways to get his scent on someone – like rub an item of his clothing on the body. And nobody here locks their doors, so it would be easy for someone to snag his clothing.”

              “I know.” Mackenzie nodded, hugging herself. “Here’s the thing. First of all, a Mage said that you thought that our drinks had been drugged the night that we all bonded, so that is supposedly his motive. And then, the Sentinel said something about an anonymous phone call, but they wouldn’t give me any more details. I already called your aunt and uncle, and your pack has an attorney on the way here.”

              “What kind of phone call? That’s insane. Ajax would not do that. All they have to do is get a Truth Mage here to verify it.”

              Karlie had been standing there quietly, but she brightened at that.  “So he’s in the clear!” she said.

              “He should be. They shouldn’t even still be holding him,” Barron grumbled. 

              “Does this somehow have anything to do with the curse?” Mackenzie asked, and Barron’s face drained of color.

              “What curse? There is no curse.”

              “Barron, for heaven’s sake, I’m bonding with you. When you have really strong emotions, I literally cannot help but pick up on them,” she said impatiently. “Why wouldn’t you have told me about this? That’s why you left, wasn’t it? I got vague inklings of that, but when I tried to ask Ajax about it this morning, he looked just like you do right now, like he’d seen a ghost, and then he denied it. And then the Sentinels came for him.”

              Barron glanced at Karlie, who shrugged helplessly.

              “You know about it?” Mackenzie demanded, shocked. Did everyone know but her?  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

              Karlie looked at Barron, who grimaced and hesitated a moment, but finally answered.

              “The curse killed our mother,” Barron said. “She died in childbirth.  Whoever we bond with will die when they have cubs.”

              “Oh.” She felt as if a lightning bolt had struck her. No cubs? That was why Ajax and Barron had both changed the subject when she talked about having cubs.

              “There’s more,” Barron said grimly. “If it were that simple, we’d have time to work around it. Part of the curse prevents us from warning you – or you’ll be dead within a day or two. Our fathers started to suspect that there was a curse, they warned our stepmother, and all three of them died in a car accident a couple of days later.”

              “I see.” She didn’t know what to say.  Everything was piling up on her at once. She was already completely freaking out about Ajax being arrested, and now this?

              “We may have a person who can help us,” Karlie said, her tone hopeful. Then her face fell. “Although this really accelerates our timetable considerably.”

              Barron quickly explained what they’d been doing for the past couple of days.  “Karlie and I can go back to San Francisco know, track down the guy with the Lookback Mirror, and get him to verify that our fathers were drugged,” he said.  “I need to talk to the Sentinels who are holding Ajax, and then I’ll head out immediately. We will fix this, I swear.”

              “But he said that using the Lookback Mirror would cost a million dollars. Or at least a huge fortune,” Mackenzie protested.

              “I have an idea,” Karlie said. “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but I’m going to suggest something to this Tristan guy when we meet him.”

              “Sexual favors?” Mackenzie raised an eyebrow.

              “Hush your mouth!” Karlie smacked her arm. “I haven’t even seen him yet. He could be hideous. Oh, and I’m a born-again virgin. No, it’s something that I think he’ll want even more than my tender flesh.”

              “I’ll be right back,” Barron said. He glanced around. “Okay, no trees overhead, nothing could fall on you…Sky looks clear, no clouds, no sign of lightning…”

              “Go. You’re freaking me out. Just go.” Mackenzie waved him inside.

              Barron hurried inside, and she and Karlie waited. And waited.

              Sentinel Pinroy, who’d been the one to arrest Ajax earlier, came out, and the expression on his face told Mackenzie that he was about to deliver bad news.

              “We have just taken Barron in to custody,” he said.

              Mackenzie thought she might faint.  Or scream. Or cry. “What the hell are you talking about?” she yelled, her face flushing with anger.

              “Barron’s scent was also on the victim, and we have an eyewitness who states that they heard them threatening the bartender, accusing him of drugging their drink.”

              “You only said that Ajax’s scent was on the victim.” She glared at him accusingly.

              “It was.  I scented it myself. I did not mention that Barron’s scent was also on the victim, because we needed him to come back here so we could take him into custody.”

              “You asshole!” Mackenzie swung and punched him, striking him so hard that she broke his nose with a crunch and sent blood spraying everywhere.

              He let out a growl of anger and took a step back, but didn’t make a move towards her. A werewolf would never hit a woman, and he understood that she’d be furious at anyone posing a threat to her mates.

              His nose reset itself and the blood stopped flowing right away, and Mackenzie couldn’t help but notice Karlie’s look of mingled horror and fascination.  Humans from Karlie’s world weren’t used to the sight of a werewolf healing from what would be fatal wounds for a human.

              She skewered Pinroy with a look of pure rage. “When is your truth Mage getting here?” she demanded angrily.

              “Probably not until morning.”   The sun was already sinking in the horizon.

              She wanted more than anything to hit him again, but there was no point. He was an officer doing his job.  From his perspective, they had probable cause,  Ajax and Barron would be fine overnight, and everything would be sorted out first thing in the morning. He knew nothing about mysterious curses and her ticking timeline.

              “What’s going to happen when the Truth Mage determined that the witness was lying?” she asked, her fists clenched and angry gleam in her eyes.

              “If the Truth Mage determines that the witness lied, they will be incarcerated for a lengthy period of time, and Ajax and Barron will be released immediately.” He reached in his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief, and dabbed at his nose.

              “You know that a wolf would never cut someone’s throat.” She met his gaze challengingly.

              “We have never seen that happen before, but their scent was on him, and we have the witness statement. This will all be cleared up by tomorrow. In the meantime, you may go in and speak to them.”             

              Mackenzie thought a minute, then shook her head. “No.”

              “No?” Sentinel Pinroy looked shocked. “You’re not mated with them?” He glanced at the still visible marks on her arm.

              “Yes, I am. I have an emergency matter to attend to. Karlie, let’s go.”

              Karlie, looking baffled, followed her back.

              “What are we doing?”

              “We’re going to get my car, then we’re going to drive to San Francisco to talk to that person with the Lookback Mirror.”

              “But – wait. If you leave Ajax and Barron...”

              “I’ll be okay for a day or two.” Mackenzie broke into a jog. Karlie ran to keep up with her. “And if this curse prediction is true, I’ll be dead within a day or two either way. We don’t have time to waste. I want to get this curse lifted off them. I might die, but that will give them a chance to have a happy life even after I’m gone.”

              “But…my sister left her mates and got really sick really fast.”

              “That’s because she went over into your world and stayed there. She crossed into another dimension; she was way too far away from them.  I’ll weaken slowly, it’ll take days before I’m too weak to function, especially because we’re only going a few hours drive from here.”

              They reached Mackenzie’s car, which was still parked near the women’s quarters.

“Will the Sentinels let you leave?” Karlie asked as she climbed in. 

              “Yes, because I’ll tell them I’m going to go pick up the attorney for Ajax and Barron.”

Mackenzie spotted Vita frantically waving at them and running towards them.

“What is going on?” Vita was breathless as she reached the car door.

“No time to talk,” Mackenzie said, putting the car in reverse. “Ajax and Barron have been arrested, and we have to go to San Francisco to get someone to help us prove their innocence.”

“Are you crazy?” Vita squawked.

“You wouldn’t be the first person to ask me that question. Hey, why are you getting in?” Mackenzie demanded as Vita flung the back door open. “By the way, I’m cursed.  This is not going to be the safest ride.”

“I know, I know, I was there when Barron and Ajax told Mackenzie about it,” Vita said impatiently “I’m going anyway. Hey, I’ve had bad luck all my life. How much worse could it get?” She slid in and slammed the door.

“Probably not the best time to be asking that question,” Karlie pointed out.

“The Sentinels won’t let you leave,” Mackenzie protested. “I’ve got a reason to leave, and Karlie isn’t required to stay here because she’s not from here. You’ve got no excuse.”

“I’ll lie on the floor and pull this blanket over me. You might need me. Safety in numbers.” Vita’s voice was muffled as she pulled the blanket over her.

Mackenzie didn’t have time to argue. “Fine, but if things get too curse-y, I’m leaving you guys behind where it’s safe.”

The Sentinels let them leave without too much argument, and Mackenzie drove towards San Francisco as fast as she could.