Wylde (11 page)

Heart pounding in his throat, he headed for the door out of the garage to retrieve them. His mom would give him shit if he didn’t, and he wanted her off his ass. Yet he came to a dead stop five feet from the door—the door that was hanging open, gently swaying back and forth in the night breeze off the mountain.

The door he hadn’t opened….
He backed away one careful step at a time, barely breathing.

He only had to make it inside the house. Get to his Dad’s guns. They’d call the Chief—

 

A soft scuffling sound. He wasn’t alone in here.

He frantically bounced the flashlight around, hand trembling, glaring light catching emptily off the windows and headlights of silent vehicles.

The intercom suddenly blasted, scaring the shit out of him. “Thomas, did you take care of those garbage cans?”

 

Thomas charged for the door into the house, scrabbling for the latch. Enough was enough!

“
Mo—!
” Thomas huffed, in such a hurry to open the door that he dropped the flashlight. It bounced in a hard arc, lighting something red and liquid pooled in front of the cars.

N
OAH
leaned against the wall, his legs trembling from the force of his awakening passion. He was hard and aching, and his body was singing under Kell’s skillful and ardent touch. How could this be happening so fast? He hadn’t even known this man a few days ago. Then he’d been annoyed by him, thought him a pushy hick.

Now part of him wanted to do what Kell wanted. Lie under him. And Kell was right, damn him, because part of Noah was a little gun shy, but for more reason than Kell had so far sensed, thank God.

“Kell, should we…? Anyone could see us here,” Noah rasped, not sure he wanted to leave Kell’s hands, his arms, except he was a responsible adult, and his son was in the darkened theater waiting for them. Shit!

Kell kissed his lips and then pressed more hot kisses against his neck. “I wish they could see you, see how I make you feel. If we lived a couple of thousand years ago, I’d parade you naked wearing my collar….”

Noah burst into shocked laughter and smacked Kell’s shoulder. “You are
so
retro, Chief! But this is… too much, too soon. I’ve never felt this way.”

As if seeing Noah was growing upset in the wake of their nearsex, Kell took a deep breath and pulled away, his head back, panting.

Noah stared, wide-eyed. Had he really had that kind of powerful effect on Kell, a seasoned lover? Noah had barely any experience with another man.

“Okay, you’re not ready for the big gay make out in semipublic places,” Kell breathed, muscled chest still heaving. His voice was raspy, sexy to Noah’s ears. “But you’ll star tonight in my very own private movie as my submissive and….” Kell swallowed, reaching out to stroke Noah’s hair. His hand wasn’t quite steady, Noah noticed, hyper-aware of everything about this man. “Beautiful Noah-slave. That all right by you? A fella can dream.”

Noah flushed but then nodded. “Thank you for understanding.”

“How about the big gay make out in private places?” Kell pushed, dark eyes twinkling. “You ready for that?”
Noah laughed and shoved Kell away. “I think we both better stay in this alcove until what we are feeling isn’t too… obvious.”

Kell stepped back. “If I stay here, I’m going to touch you and you’re going to like it. And I won’t be able to stop myself from making you come, Noah. So I’m going to gather our popcorn and drinks and go find Josh. See you in a few.”

Noah watched the larger man stride away and thought it was very Kell that he obviously didn’t care his erection was tenting his jeans. The Chief was a true alpha male.

Noah knew it wasn’t PC to like the way such a man treated him, but… it seemed he had a weakness for bossy, take-charge alpha males. He rubbed his damp forehead ruefully. By rights, Kell was treading on unhealed ground, so why wasn’t he setting off Noah’s trip wires? But the truth was, from the beginning, Noah had felt completely safe with Kell. The Chief liked to kiss, tease,
lure
him into play, but he listened to Noah, respected Noah’s limits.

Noah huffed out a breath. Kell was an irresistible combination, and he knew it, damn him.
“T
HIS
is so great!” Josh crowed when Noah had calmed enough to

rejoin him and Kell. Noah felt his heart melt a little when he saw Kell was sitting on one side of Josh so that Noah could sit on the other, because some of Noah’s previous dates would have insisted on sitting next to him, maybe wanting to make out with Noah during the movie, ignoring Josh.

Not that Noah would let them forget his son!
But his barbarian truly seemed to care about Josh.
Irresistible.

K
ELL
’
S
cell phone vibrated, and he immediately tensed, placing it

by his ear while he glanced at Noah. In another moment, he snapped it closed and reached across Josh to lightly squeeze Noah’s shoulder, silently telling him he had to leave.

Noah’s gaze followed him as he left the theater, but he could already see that Kell was a million miles away, his mind on his job. For some reason, his heartbeat picked up, and unease pricked him, but he shoved it aside, putting an arm around Josh and trying to lose himself in his son’s innocent enthusiasm for the movie.

He guessed this was part of dating a lawman, if that was what he was doing.
“V
ICTIM
identified as… a raccoon, found by Thomas Anderson.”

Daniel Makepeace looked over at Kell. “And I remind you, Chief, I am not qualified to deal with small wild animals. But because you called me in anyway, I can tell you that the cause of death appears to be… massive tissue loss.” Daniel Makepeace spoke into his recorder, voice sober, since he was shaken, as they all were, by another mysterious and frightening event in their town. He stood up for a moment, pausing, head down before shaking his head and then continuing.

Kell and deputy-on-loan Alec Danvers waited just beyond the garage, watching the coroner as he examined the scene. “I appreciate you lookin’ anyway, Daniel,” Kell said. “It will help with my investigation.”

“Hmm.” Makepeace snapped his measuring tape closed. “Height and weight of raccoon can only be estimated at this time….”

Kell turned away, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. There was bloody raccoon spread all over this garage, but Kell’s personal nightmare was that it could just have easily have been seventeenyear-old boy. And the Andersons didn’t live too far away from Noah and Josh.

“The torso has been severed, skin peeled back. All the major organs are missing.” Daniel’s eyes caught Kell’s, reminding him of how they’d found Morley in much the same state. Kell’s lips tightened since they’d only just begun digging into Morley’s life, looking for his killer, and now this had happened.

He stared at the word scrawled in scarlet across the paved garage floor.
Don’t.
Clearly it was some kind of message to someone… like Morley had been? What had Alec called his body, a scarecrow?

Alec had knelt by the door into the garage, carefully examining it. “Some deep scratch marks here, Chief, but they are inconclusive; could have been here quite some time.”

Kell bent close to his deputy, taking in the scoring marks. Then he remembered something. “Why do I get a feeling that someone is being sent a message?”

“I have the same feeling,” Alec noted. “Territory.”

“It could be the homeless ‘ghost’ doing this, only… Alec, the reason no one in this town ever got too worked up was he or she never hurt anyone before. Now…” Kell muttered. Then he rubbed his jaw. “Shit.”

Alec only looked at him, mute. Kell knew he had some ideas, but it was typical of his deputy to sit on them until he was ready to share.

Inside the garage, Makepeace continued to document his findings. He pulled something from underneath the muddy Toyota, and Kell swallowed, feeling sick, even though it was just an animal. Shit! “Detached left limb, severed with what looks like a handmade blade….”

“D
ANIEL
….” Kell leaned opposite Makepeace against the
coroner’s SUV. The other man was unsnapping his plastic gloves in jerky movements.

“I don’t know!” For once, laconic Daniel looked almost weary. The shock of the scare to a teenage boy in their small, out-of-theway little town had hit even him. It was that way for all of them, law enforcement and hospital staff, when they dealt with kids.

“I need something to go on. I have to solve this case fast, before folks start shooting at shadows and maybe hurt someone.” Makepeace shook his head. “I think it’s the same knife used on Morley, but that’s all I can tell you.”

“Why? What does ‘don’t’ mean?” Kell prodded aloud, feeling helpless. One person was dead and now this, soon after. Something was stirred up, and he had to get to the bottom of it soon.

So he could hunt this killer.
The two men stared at each other.

Kell growled softly. “The whole town seems to believe in this nonsense about some kind of ghost being responsible, but we have to keep our heads or we’ll never find who is responsible.”

“I can only tell you my findings based on the physical evidence presented from Morley Orris and the raccoon’s remains. If this is a deranged hunter doing this… frankly, he’s giving me the creeps!”

“Okay, Daniel.” Kell looked reluctantly toward the house, the living room lit as the shocked parents were comforted by neighbors. He stared at Mylar Anderson, his hand clenched on his wife Marisa’s shoulder. The man really seemed attached to her, despite how cold she was and the fact that Kell himself had caught her being unfaithful. Probably it wasn’t the first time. Had the word “don’t” referred to her somehow?

“I can tell you it’s a very efficient killer. And I don’t think it’s going to stop.”
“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know, except… so far it’s winning.”

 

Kell glared at the dark forest. “So I’ll make it stop.”

K
ELL
took a deep breath two hours later as he sat in his SUV. He needed to head inside, talk to Noah, but he had to ground himself first. He got out of the vehicle and rubbed his aching temples, his gaze catching on Josh, who was watching him with a sober expression from his bedroom window.

He had managed to get Thomas to confess to buying pot from Morley Orris. Thomas also remembered inviting Orris to his home a few times.

The connecting thread Kell had been looking for—Thomas had known Orris, done business with him—led him… where? In another moment, he was striding for the front door. “How was the movie?” Kell asked Noah when the other man opened his door.

“I’m not sure Josh will sleep he was so excited; he loves science fiction.” Noah smiled. Then he seemed to absorb the weariness and tension coming from Kell.

“Something’s wrong.” He reached out, his hand almost making contact with Kell’s arm before he let it fall.

 

“Thomas Anderson; he had a real scare,” Kell stated flatly.

“Another one? He didn’t get lost again, did he?” Noah walked into his living room, studying Kell sharply.
“Noah, you live even further up the mountain than the Andersons do. I’m worried about you and Josh,” Kell said as he followed Noah into the living room. “I don’t know what the hell is going on right now, but no, he didn’t get lost this time.”

“My God! That poor kid and his parents!” Noah shook his head, obviously in shock. “Kell, what happened, can you talk about it?”

“Thomas found a dead raccoon in his garage. It looks like someone left it there deliberately. Listen, I want you and Josh to move in with me just until I stop this from happening.”

Noah’s eyes widened. “We barely know you!”

“Or let me stay here with you at night,” Kell pleaded, his fists balled. “I won’t make a play for you if you aren’t ready, but I just need to keep you both safe. Please, Noah.”

P
LEASE
.
Not a word he thought came easily from Kell, but one he used because he cared what happened to Noah, to Josh.

“Kell.” Noah could feel waves of determination coming from his Chief. He had the sense that this man would die before he let anything happen to him and his son. It made him even more attracted to the man, as he had been in the theater when Kell had put Josh first, even before seducing Noah.

“He was just a kid,” Kell muttered, looking away. “And somehow I fucked up, missed something, and he got scared. In my town, Noah.”

“Kell, don’t do this.” Noah took his arm, finding the muscles rigid. It was gut-wrenching, envisioning how he’d feel as a parent if Josh were hurt. Kell seemed to take on the role of guardian of the whole town. “You saved his life just recently, remember? Come on, I have some tofu brownies and hot joe in the kitchen.”

Kell blinked. “You gotta be fucking kidding. You put
tofu
in brownies? You really are from Seattle.”

Glad to distract Kell, Noah nodded, smiling a little, leading the larger man into the large, warm space where copper pots hung and herbs bloomed in the window over the sink. Beyond the windows, the landscaping lit the night. For some reason, Noah now left those lights on during the hours of darkness, as if the illumination pushed back the woods beyond.